fS. 



THE WASHINGTON DESPOTISM 



X)ISSEOTEnD 



m 



AETICLES 



' FEOM 



€\t "^tixaplxim Jltc0rlif. 



NEW YOEK: 

OFFICE OF THE METROPOLITAN RECORD, 

No. 419 Broadway, 

1863. 



TO THE PUBLIC. 



Lt consequence of the great demand for the num- 
bers of the Kecoed containing the articles enumerated 
in the index, the supply was soon exhausted. As the 
papers are still called for, the publication of this pam- 
phlet is intended to obviate the difficulty. 

It can be had of all newsdealers throughout the 
country 



CONTENTS. 



FAOB 

The United States Converted into a Militaiy Despotism 7 

Can a Disunion Administration Restore the Union ? 17 

A Great Statesman Speaking to the People 26 

Grounds of Impeachment of the President 29 

The Effects of Abolitionism 33 

"What is a Loyal Leaguer ? : 36 

Grand Patriotic Demonstration 39 

Some Plain Talk ' 54 

" Nobody's Hurt." 58 

Peace ! 61 

Model Resolutions for the Loyal Leaguers 68 

What the War is carried on for 71 

A New Joke — Is it the President's ? '72 

The Abolition Policy of the Administration, and what it has Accom- 
plished 74 

The Statesman of the Revolution on the Right of Coercion 80 

The Sovereignty of the States 87 

The Northern Plague 92 

The Letter of Governor Seymour 95 

A Poland in the United States 100 

The Future 102 

Which is the most Humiliating— Peace or War ? 113 

The Conscription 118 

The AdministratioD Telegraph ; or. How it is Done. 121 



ARTICLES 

FKOM THE 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 



THE UNITED STATES CONVERTED INTO A MILI- 
TARY DESPOTISxM. 

THE CONSCRIPTION ACT THE LAST DEADLY BLOW AIMED AT 
POPULAR LIBERTY. 

{From the Metropolitan Record, March 14, 1863.) 

The Congress -which has so fatally misrepresented the 
Republic during the last two years has at length adjourned. 
It expired on the 4th instant, leaving behind it a memory 
that time can never effiice, and fastening indelibly upon 
the history of the nation the blackest record the world 
has ever seen. It found the United States a free country, 
and it has left it a land of slaves. It was elected to do 
the behests of the people, and it has converted our ser- 
vants into our masters, and our President into an autocrat, 
with power as great over the liberties of the people as 
that which the Czar of all the Russias possesses over his 
subjects. All this it has done, and more. It has rendered 
a union of fraternity an impossibility; it has again and 
again passed enactments violating the supreme law of the 
•land; it has persistently refused to permit any inquiry to 
be made into the arbitrary arrests of loyal citizens ; it has 
broken down State limits, and admitted bogus members as 
representatives who pretend to have been constitutionally 
elected, and in its last measure, the Conscription Act, it 
has put the liberties of the people in the hands of a man 
whose presidential career has proved that he never wanted 
the will to become the arbitrary master of this so-called 
Republic. With a persistence that the dread crisis through 
which the nation is passing could not affect nor alter, it has 



• ARTICLES • FROM THE 

devoted all its energies to the destruction of an institution 
guaranteed by the Constitution itself; it has made the 
hberty of the white man only of secondary importance to 
that of the negro ; it has lent its aid to the suppression of 
the liberty of the j)ress by silently sanctioning the action 
of its subordinates in suspending the publication of several 
of the newspapers throughout the country. It has quietly 
looked on while our citizens have been dragged from their 
homes at the dead hour of night and flung into govern- 
ment bastiles ; it has preferred the permanent disruption 
of the Union to its perpetuity with the institution of 
slavery preserved; it has knowingly and willfully set at 
naught the desires and intentions of the great conservative 
majority of the North, and in the passage of the Conscrip- 
tion Act it has been guilty of a most criminal violation of 
the sovereignty of the people as involved in the rights of 
the States. 

This is the record left to us by a Congress which has 
done more to render the restoration of the Union impos- 
sible than all the acts of the most bitter and determined 
secessionists. 

When the country could have been saved by tb>3 adop- 
tion in the Border State Convention of the Crittenden 
compromise — a compromise intended to secure to the South 
nothing but what it was justly entitled to — the leading 
members of both the Senate and House of Representatives 
employed all the force of their official character and po- 
sition to secure the defeat of the measure. In its almost 
every act it proved to the South that it would be satisfied 
with nothing less than its unconditional submission and 
the extinction of slavery. It falsified its pledges made at 
the commencement of the war, that the immense military 
and naval resources of the country should be employed 
only in the restoration of the Union, and the re-establish- 
ment of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. 

But, as we have intimated, the crov/ning act of despot- 
ism, the most atrocious piece of legislation which it has 
perpetrated, is the Conscription Law, which is hardly less 
intolerable than that which has driven Poland into wide- 
spread insurrection. In this measure the radical and fanat- 
ical policy of Congress has reached its climax. That body, 



METROPOLITAN EECOED. 9 

iu its last days, attained the " bad eminence" to which it 
was so long aspiring ; and its last act is the most deadly 
blow that has yet been aimed at the liberties of the fjeople ; 
it is the most envenomed shaft that has yet been hurled at 
the heart of the Republic, and if the people are untrue to 
themselves in this dire emergency, the freedom of the 
nation will be buried in the same grave in which Congress 
has interred all that remained of the Union. 

One of the most remarkable features of this last effort 
to convert the Republic into a military despotism, is the 
entire abnegation of State sovereignty in the process^ by 
which the conscription is to be carried into operation. 
State limits and State sovereignty are ridden over rough- 
shod, and our Governors, the freely chosen magistrates of 
a free people, are to be treated as mere ciphers by the 
General Government. 

In a word, all the citizens of New York liable to mili- 
tary duty under this law can be called upon by the Presi- 
dent whenever he shall deem it necessary, and on the 
refusal of any one of these to obey the call, he " shall be 
deemed a deserter, be arrested by the Provost Marshal, 
and sent to the nearest military post for court-martial." 
If this is not the .establishment of a military despotism, 
then we should hke to know the true meaning of the 
words. We have no hesitation whatever in saying that 
this law is unconstitutional, and, of course, not binding 
tipon any citizen of the United States ; and since the mis- 
called National Legislature has so far exceeded its powers, 
the jjeople must, under such circumstances, look for pro- 
tection to the only authorities that can grant it, the Gov- 
ernors of their respective States. We owe allegiance as 
citizens of the State of New York to the constitution of 
that State, and in the exercise of his kwful authority we 
are solemnly bound by that obligation to sustain and sup- 
port its Chief Magistrate, whom that constitution declares 
is the Commander-in-Chief of the miUtary and naval forces 
of the State. If allegiance belongs to that regularly-con- 
stituted power which, in the general community, affords 
protection to Hfe and property, then we say our loyalty is 
pre-eminently due to the State government. As to the 
Constitution of the United States, that instrument no 

1* 



10 • KTICLES FEOM THE 

longer affords protection to its citizens, and the only bar- 
rier which now interposes between the liberties of the 
people and the consolidating power of a centralized des- 
potism at Washington is the sovereignty of the State. 

Let not the wilhng tools of the recently initiated tyranny 
in this country imagine that the Press is to be deterred by 
the threats contained in this unconstitutional law against 
all who interfere with its operation. We have too much 
faith in the Executive of the Empire State to suppose that 
he will ever allow an Administration which is sapping the 
very foundations of constitutional freedom to seize upon 
his fellow-citizens as the Russian autocrat has attempted 
to do with the ill-fated victims of his fiendish rule in Po- 
land. The moment such an assault is made upon citizen 
rights, the last hnks that bind the States together will be 
rent asunder like so many cobwebs. The Administration 
will then find, when it is too late, that it is the States 
which constitute the Republic, that they are sovereign, 
that it is the powers which they have delegated that 
make up what is called the General Government, that they 
are as the pillars which support a, grand dome, and that 
the moment their support is withdrawn, that part of the 
edifice must fall to the ground. 

Of course the enforcement of such an act, with all the 
rigors of the despotic power for the furtherance of whose 
policy it was concocted, could not be accomplished with- 
out providing for the j)unishment of all offending against 
its provisions. This was fully understood by the men who 
framed this most tyrannical of all the tyrannical acts of 
that notoriously tyrannical body — the last Congress ; and 
so they inserted the following impotent threat : 

Sec. 25. And be it further enacted. That if any person shall resist any 
draft of men enrolled tinder this act into the service of the United 
States, or shall counsel or aid any peisuii to resist any such draft ; or 
shall assault or obstruct any oflicer in making such draft, or in the 
performance of any service in relation thereto ; or shall counsel any 
person to assault or obstruct any such officer, or shall counsel any 
drafted men not to appear at the place of rendezvous, or willfully dis- 
suade tfiemfro7n the performance of military duly as required by law, such person 
shall be subject to summary arrest by the provost marshal, and shall beforlhuith 
delivered to the civil authorities^ and, upon conviction iliereof, be punished by a 
fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding two 
years, or by both of said punishments. 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 11 

If this were really a war for the Constitution and the 
Union, and not for the military subjugation of a portion 
of our fellow-countrymen, there would be no occasion for 
a conscription ; but we tell the Chief Executive at Wash- 
ington that the conscription will fail, miserably faU, and 
that its failure will be produced by the very influences 
evoked by his emancipation policy, and his other uncon- 
stitutional acts. 

We do not think so meanly of the American people, 
despite of their long patience and forbearance, as to ima- 
gine that they are yet ready to tolerate a military despot- 
ism ; neither do we believe that they are in favor of the 
still further prosecution of this war, to carry out the 
designs of a radical Abolition minority. For our own part, 
we never could conviuce ourselves that the Union would 
ever be restored through such an ordeal. We always re- 
garded it as a union of free-will and not of force ; and we 
have never entertained any other belief than that which 
we now express, when we say that the sword wiU inevi- 
tably prove the cause of its disintegration. 

That the Conscription Act is unconstitutional is evident 
from a perusal of its provisions ; but the manner of its 
passage is no less unconstitutional. If the reports of the 
closing hours of Congress be correct, it was carried in the 
Senate by a trick, a vile fraud upon the people. This is 
apparent in the following extract which we make from the 
report : 

Mr. Powell spoke until half-past three o'clock in the morning, when 
he moved that the Senate adjourn. 

Motion rejected by yeas 4, nays 32. 

Mr. Bayard commenced speaking against the bill, and spoke until 
half-past four o'clock, when he yielded t/ie floor to Mr. Powell, who again 
moved that the House adjourn. 

Motion rejected by yeas 4, nays 33. 

The question then recurred on agreeing to the report of the Conference 
Committee. 

The vote was called, and the Chairman, Mr. Pomeroy, declared the 
rejjort agreed to. 

Mr. Trumbull moved to take up the act relative to the validity of 
the deeds of public squares to the city of Washington. 

Motio-n agreed to. 

Mr. Powell — I hope that the Senate will proceed with tlie consideration 
of the report of tlie Conference Committee. 

Mr. Q-rimes — That bill is passkd. 



1? 



AETICLES FEOM THE 



Mr. Powell— Oh, no ! The Senator from Delaware (Bayard) is en- 
titled to the floor. 

Mr. Trumbull—/ call the SencUar from Kentucky (Powell) to order. I 
am on thejioor, and I moved to take up another bill, and that motion has been 
carried. 

Mr. Bayard — Neither the manner nor the language of the Senator 
from Iliiaois (Trumbull) will cause me to yield my right to the floor, io 
which I am entitled. 

Mr. Powell — Do I understand the Chairman (Pomeroy) to say that 
the bill is passed ? 

The Chair — Tiie bill is passed. 

Mr. Powell— By what kind of jockeying ? 

Mr. Trumbull— I call the Senator from Kentucky to order. ■ 

Mr. Bayard — Does the Chair decide the report of the Conference 
Copamittee to have been adopted by any vote of the Senate ? 

The Chair — I understand that the report has been adopted. 

Mr. Powell— Did I not most distinctly state that the Senator from 
Delaware (Bayard) only yielded the floor to a motion to adjourn ? 

The Chair — / did not hear the Senator from Kentucky say that the Senator 
from Delaware yielded thefl^orfor any particular purpose. 

Mr. Trumbull — I believe that I am entitled to the floor. 

The Chair — The Senator from Illinois (Trumbull) is eniUled to the floor un- 
less he yields it. 

Mr. Powell — 1 desire to ask the Chair 

Mr. Trumbull — I do not yield io the Senator from Kentucky io ask any 
question. 

Mr. Bayard ~i desire to appeal from the decision of the Chair. I 
desire to ascertain whether the minority have any rights remaining here. 

Mr. Howard moved that the Senate adjourn. 

Mr. Kichardson moved to reconsider the motion by which the bill 
was claimed to be passed by the Senate. 

Mr. Grimes— Did the Senator from Illinois (Kichardson) vote with 
the majority ? If he did not, he could not move for a reconsideration. 

At a quarter to five a.m. the Senate adjourned. 

It appears from the foregoing that Mr. Bayard, after 
speaking at some length against the bill, yielded the floor 
to a motion of adjournment made by Mr. Powell, as such 
motions are always in order. In the event of the rejection 
of the motion, the right to the floor reverted to Mr. Bay- 
ard according to the rales of debate. But before Mr. 
Bayard could resume the right which he had only tempo- 
rarily yielded, a vote was taken on the bill as reported by 
the Conference Committee, and the Chairman declared its 
adoption. Such a nefarious transaction was never perpe- 
trated upon the liberties of a people, if we except that by 
which the nationality of Ireland was filched away by a 
corrupt legislature, acting under the direction of a man 



METROPOLITAN EECOKD. 13 

whose name will be infamous throughout all coming time, 
and whose death was a fitting termination to a life of the 
blackest crime. 

Never had a legislative body such a glorious opportunity 
of saving the life of a nation and the hberties of a people, 
as that which the last Congress was presented ; but instead 
of using its power and its influence in the form of mild 
and conciliatory measures to win back the love of the 
Southern people to the Union, it did all in its power to 
render the very name of Union hateful to them by the 
adoption of a policy which has resulted in uniting the 
whole South in one compact confederacy, with a thoroughly 
organized Government, with an army whose bravery and 
heroism can not be doubted, and with statesmen at its 
head to whom the petty politicians at Washington are pig- 
mies in comparison. The people do not forget that it was 
through the compulsory influence exercised by this Con- 
gress upon the Administration, that General McClellan was 
removed, and it was also through its sectional and aboUtion 
legislation that a wide-spread discontent has been created 
in the Union army. They know, also, that it was in com- 
pliance with its demands the President issued his last 
proclamation, and we think they are by this time convinced 
that they will be satisfied with no other submission on the 
j^art of the South than that which would lay her prostrate 
and bleeding at the feet of the newly-created American 
despot. If this is the union in which this war is to termi- 
nate, then farewell to the liberty of the people. The once 
free, happy, and prosperous nation known as the United 
States will pass away as did the republics of ancient Greece 
— flashing like a meteor across the sky of time, and light- 
ing up with a dazzhng brilliancy the surrounding nations 
that gazed with wonder on the startling phenomenon. Is 
this really to be the fate of the great Republic? The 
peojjle alone can answer that question, and upon their 
answer depends the future destiny of the ISTew World. 

We know there are men in our midst, for we lately had 
disgraceful evidence of the fact, who would aid the newly 
constituted tyranny at Washmgton in riveting its fetters 
upon the people. Such men assume to be the mouthpieces 
of the conservative masses, but they will find, when too 



14r ARTICLES FROM THE 

late, that the trickery of the demagogue to which they 
have resorted will not save them from the judgment of an 
incensed and outraged people. Such men may imagine 
that the liberty of a nation is a thing of trifling value ; but 
as long as the great heart of the people is right, their in- 
trigues in the interest of American autocracy will prove a 
wretched failure. These are the energies against which 
the great statesmen of the Republic have warned us again 
and again ; it is they who are ready to assist in undoing 
the work of the patriots of the E evolution by ignoring the 
Constitution, and handing over the rights of the people to 
a military dictator to put under bolt and bar. Such men 
can see no harm in the suspension of the habeas corpus, in 
the suppression of the liberty of the press, in the over- 
throw of State sovereignty, in the arbitrary arrest and 
incarceration in government dungeons of loyal citizens, in 
proclamations placing loyal and sovereign States under 
martial law, and in investing the so-called President of the 
United States with supreme power above the Constitution, 
above State rights, above all law, over the personal liberty 
of the citizen. Such things, in their estimation, are a mere 
bagatelle. The liberty for which the infant Republic 
waged a seven-years' war against Great Britain is to be 
bartered away, and for what ? A military desjootism — not 
even such a despotism as they have in some parts of 
Europe — but a despotism directed by men who have 
proved themselves weak in everything else but the will to 
destroy. They are ready to carry out the conscription ; 
but so long as they are the owners of three hundred dol- 
lars, not one of them, we venture to say, will take the field. 
They will leave that for the poor man, whose family is de- 
pendent upon him for support. They are the heroes of 
the rostrum, and not of the battle-field, whose dangers 
they are satisfied to view at a safe distance. They are 
the men who will " look into Catholicity when slavery is 
disposed of," for to them religious freedom is of still less 
importance than civil rights. 

But they must be blind to the evidence, which is grow- 
ing stronger day by day, that the people are opposed to a 
war waged for emancipation — to a war which, if success- 
ful i^ that object, will flood the labor markets of the North 



METEOPOLTTAN RECOED. 15 

witli black competitors against the interests of the white 
industrial classes, or dot our Northern land with poor- 
houses for the support of an indigent negro population 
either unwilling or unable to work. 

Despite of all this, however, their voice is still for war, 
but while they talk of the carnage of the battle they act 
peace. They urge others into the field, but tlie\j are con- 
tent to stay at home that they may add new force to the 
blow that is aimed at the liberty of the people. They 
accuse the advocates of peace with treason, while they act 
treason by declining to fight. They can see no danger to 
popular liberty by intrusting the President with supreme 
control over the sword and purse of the nation. They 
approve the act of Congress by which nearly two billion 
tliree hundred milUons of dollars are put at the disposal 
of the Chief Executive — a sum more than half the national 
debt of England. Do they expect to he paid a portion of 
it for their 8upp)ort of a centralized despotism? 

In this State, however, we need have no fear of the re- 
sult, so far as the rights of the citizen are concerned, for 
we ha^^e a Chief Magistrate who has pledged himself to 
their defense and support, and whose inaugural message 
contains the following solemn guarantee against the en- 
croachments of arbitrary power : 

While our soldiers (says he) are periling their lives to uphold the 
Constitution and to restore the Union, we owe to them who have 
shown an endurance and patriotism unsurpassed in the history of the 
world, that we emulate their devotion in our field of duty. We are 
to take care, when they come back, that their home rights are-^not im- 
paired, that they shall not find when they return to the duties of civil 
life that the security of their persons, the sanctity of tueir homes, 
OR THE PROTECTION OF THEIR PROPERTY iiavc becu lost by US while they 
were battling for the national interest in a distant field of duty. 

The following extracts from the same important docu- 
ment are particularly applicable at the present time, and 
in view of the unconstitutional course of Congress, and 
the violation of the supreme law of the land by the so- 
called President, we submit them to the consideration of 
our readers : 

The rights of States were reserved, and the powers of the General 
Government were limited to pi-oted the people in their persoris, property, and 
consciences in times of danger and civil commotion. There is little to fear in 



16 ARTICLES FKOM THE 

periods of peace and prosperity. If we are not protected when there 
are popular excitements and convulsions, oiir government is a failure. If 
presidential proclamations are above the decisions of the courts and the restraints 
of the Constitution, then that Constitution is a mockery. If it has not tfie author- 
ity to keep the Executive within its restraints, then it can not retain States within 
the Union. Those tvho hold thai there is no sanctity in the Constitution must 
equally hold that there is no guilt in the rebellion. 

We can not be silent and allow these practices to become precede?its. Tliey are 
as much in violation of our Constitution as the rebellion itself, and more dangerous 
io our liberties. They hold out to the Executive every temptation of ambition to 
make and prolong war. They offer despotic power as a pirice for preventing peace. 
They 'are inducements io each administration to procure discord and incite armed 
resistance to law, by declaring that the conditio7i of war removes all constitviional 
restraints. They call about the national capital hordes of unprincipled men, loJio 
find in the wreck of their country the opportunity to gratify avarice and am- 
bition, or personal or political resentments. This theory m,akes the passion and 
ambition of an administration antagonistic to the interest and happiness of the 
people. It makes the restoration of peace the abdication of more than regal art- 
tharity in the hands of those to tvhom is confided the government of the country. 

After perusing the foregoing, our readers will, we think, 
agree with us that liberty of speech and of the press are 
secure under a Governor who appreciates his position and 
is determined to maintain the sovereignty of the great 
State at the head of which he has been placed, not hy a 
minority., but by a majority of its citizens. We believe 
that our right as a journalist to utter, and print, and cir- 
culate freely and without danger of arbitrary arrest and 
incarceration, whatever we find to criticise in the acts of 
the Administration — we believe that our right to do this 
will be maintained by the Chief Executive of the Empire 
State, and it is in this belief that we now exercise that 
Constitutional rights despite of the threats of a military 
despotism, and its base and venal adherents. 

If the people -are not fully aroused to the dangers by 
which their liberties, not to speak of their sovereignty, 
are beset, they may soon lose both the opportunity and the 
power to preserve those priceless boons for which such 
great sacrifices were made. 



METROPOLITAN EECORD. 17 



CAN A DISUNION ADMINISTRATION RESTORE 
THE UNION? 

FACTS THAT CAX NOT BE CONTROVERTED, AND THAT EVERY 
AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ANI> UNDERSTAND. 

(^From the Mbtropolttan Kecord of March 28, 1863.) 

We believe that all unbiased and candid minds will 
agree with us, that the Union might and could have been 
restored by any other Administration than that whose term 
of service will unfortunately not expire for two years lon- 
ger, but whose exit from office would be the greatest ben- 
efit that could be conferred upon the country. We are 
aware that this assertion will be combated most vigor- 
ously by those who sustain and advocate the policy of the 
so-called national Administration ; but we shall appeal to 
their sense of impartiality and justice while we present for 
their consideration a few facts and observations on the 
course which it has pursued since the commencement of 
our present fratricidal, unnecessary, inhuman, and aboli- 
tion war. 

Our jocular and anecdotal Chief Magistrate., in that ex- 
traordinary advance of his from Springfield to Washington 
two years ago, made quite a number of humorous httle 
speeches, in one of which he pleasantly informed the pubUc 
that " nobody was hurt." 

His entree into Washington, it will be remembered, was 
made in disguise — a Scotch cap and military cloak being 
used on the occasion for the better concealment of the 
newly-elected magistrate of the great Republic. It was a 
mean disguise, unworthy of the Executive of a free peo- 
ple ; it was like the manner in which Kossuth left this 
country, under a false exterior. 

This was a bad beginning ; shght as the incident may 
appear, it wore a bad aspect. Why should the President 
of thirty millions of freemen slink into the capital of the 
country in a manner that was calculated only to excite 
contempt and ridicule ? Why did he not boldly and fear- 
lessly proceed on liis journey as if he hdd nothing to dread 
from his feUow-citizens — as if he had a fuU reliance on their 



18 ARTICLES FROM THE 

sense of right and justice ? If he intended to act in ac- 
cordance with the Constitution — if he intended to deal im- 
partially between the North and the South — if he did not 
design to force upon the country the peculiar policy of the 
minority by which he w^as elected, why did he not boldly, 
and frankly, and manfully enter the capital of the nation ? 

Ah ! that beginning, without signihcance as it may ap- 
pear in the eyes of some, was painfully suggestive to all 
who desired the future hajipiness, prosperity, and freedom 
of the country. 

Such was the advent of Mr. Lincoln into Washington — 
a city where his illustrious predecessors in office were in 
the habit of appearieg in public unattended except by ad- 
miring friends, but where he the latest (and we hope not 
the last) President seldom makes his appearance in public 
except under the protection of an armed guard. 

His inaugural informed the country that he would con- 
duct the affairs of the Government on national principles 
— that he would not interfere with the peculiar institu- 
tion of the South. " Apprehension," said he, " seems to 
exist among the people in the Southern States that, by the 
accession of a Repubhcan Administration, their property 
and their peace and personal security are to be endan- 
gered. * * * * I do but quote from one of my 
speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly 
or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in 
the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful 
right to do so, and I have wo inclination to do so." 

This is pretty plain; there is no misunderstanding its 
meaning, that is it' words have not changed their significa- 
tion. Mr. Lincoln then said that he had no intention to 
interfere with the institution of Slavery ; but how have 
his subsequent acts redeemed his promise to the people ? 
Did he give any encouragement to the objects of the Bor- 
der State Convention? Did not the party by w^hich he 
was supported and placed in office refuse to agree to any 
terms of concihation or compromise with the South ? Did 
they not treat with scorn and contempt the policy of the 
greatest statesmen of the country who knew and who 
stated again and again that the KepubUc could never be 
held together except governed by the spirit of mutual con- 



J(IETROPOLITAN KEOOKD. 19 

cession and forbearance ? Were they not aware that the 
Constitution itself was a compromise ? and were they so 
bhnd as not to see that a President elected on the princi 
pie of geographical distinctions and sectional considera- 
tions must pursue a thoroughly constitutional and national 
course if he would preserve the integrity of the nation ? 
All this was patent to the most superficial observer, and yet 
with all this knowledge in their possession — with all these 
self-evident facts before them — they have pursued a course 
at once subversive of the Constitution under which they 
have pretended to act, and ruinous to the interests of the 
great nation which they so falsely claim to represent. It 
was through their machinations that the objects of the 
Border State Convention Were defeated. They were such 
firm and fast adherents to abolition principles, that they 
would not compromise with slavery, although no men knew 
better than they that the immortal Washington himself was 
a slaveholder. With a pharisaical assumption of superior 
moral excellence, they haughtily declined to make any 
compromise with their Southern fellow-citizens ; and in 
their acts, if not in their Avords, they scouted the memory 
and the truly national policy of the great man who had in 
his day saved the country through such concihatory mea- 
sures. What more did the leaders at the South require 
than this — than the proof thus afibrded — that the party 
which supported the Administration was inimical to every- 
thing that looked to a friendly adjustment of the great 
questions in controversy? What, let us ask, could the 
Korth lose by compromising with the South ? Was she 
asked to give up any of her rights ? Was any material 
injury to be inflicted thereby upon Northern interests ? 
Certainly not. In giving to the South all that section de- 
manded, we should only yield that to which she was justly 
entitled. What, then, was the great obstacle in the Way 
of compromise ? " Principle V The Northern repre- 
sentatives at the Border State Convention were actuated 
solely by their adherence to princii^le ! If it were not for 
the terrible tragedy which has formed the historical sequel 
to that Convention, this pretension to principle might be 
laughed at as farcical. But there is blood on their hands, 
and the dread and horrible picture of tens of thousands 



20 ARTICLES FROM THE 

slain upon the gory battle-field, and of the myriads of sad, 
weeping mourners in Northern and Southern homes, who 
shall look in vain for the beloved ones that will never 
more return— all those should haunt th-eir imaginations, if 
they have heads to think and hearts to feel. They had a 
glorious and noble opportunity to save their ^^ountry ; but 
hke an inhuman and unnatural parricide who flings his 
father into the foaming torrent, they made no effort to 
escue it from destruction. 

The Border State Convention was '' a mockery, a delu- 
sion, and a snare," and the majority of the men who Avent 
there from the ISTorthern States did so with the deter- 
mination to oppose every measure that was calculated to 
re-establish friendly relations between the two great sec- 
tions of the country. It might have saved the Republic, 
but it failed, miserably, ignominiously failed. 

What was their next step ? The war having com- 
menced with the attack on Fort Sumter — which was noth- 
ing more nor less than the culmination of Northern aboli- 
tionism and John Brownism — a requisition was made upon 
the country for seventy-five thousand men with which to 
put down about one third of the population, and to accom- 
plish this in the remarkably brief period of three months. 
The Government issued a political promissory note pay- 
able in ninety days, in the shape of a submissive and re- 
pentant South, and one of its cabinet offic-ers indorsed the 
paper to render it acceptable to the shrewd money-lenders 
of the country. Unfortunately, however, the promise to 
pay was not redeemed. The end of the three months be- 
held the South more defiant and less submissive than at 
the commencement, and so a further extension of time 
was required. Three months more were necessary, and 
the country, again deluded, once more yielded. The six 
mouths flew by — the seventy-five thousand men were in- 
creased to five hundred thousand, and the Congress which 
has so fearfully misrepresented the people voted five hun- 
dred millions of dollars — for what ? The abolition of 
slavery and the overthrow of State rights. The five hun- 
dred thousand men and the five hundred millions of dol- 
lars " have gone in the wind." The country is more dt« 
vided than ever. The South has assumed the form of 



METROrOLTTAN EECOKD. 21 

a compact nationality, and the confidence of the loyal 
peoi:)le of the North has been -so fiir betrayed and im- 
posed npon by the men who have ruled only to ruin, that 
they have lost all trust in, and have long since learned to 
look upon, the authorities at Washington only with con- 
tempt and distrust. What followed the immense out- 
pouring of the people into the ranks of the volunteer 
army ? Nothing but defeat and disaster. That grand 
army was broken up and scattered in detachments along 
the Hne of the war ; it was defeated at several points ; but 
the greatest disaster of all befell it close by the capital of 
Virginia, and subsequently in the near vicinity of Wash- 
ington. The South was a unit in its opposition to the ill- 
judged invasion from the North. Its people had been 
forced into a unanimity of feehng by the abolition legis- 
lation of a sectional Congress. That Congress, with an 
inhmnan disregard to the lives of the brave men who be- 
lieved they were fighting for the whole country and not 
for the success of the principles of a party, was engaged 
meanwhile in the enactment of laws inimical to the inter- 
eats of the South, and calculated only to provoke the most 
embittered feelings of sectional animosity and hatred. It 
passed a bill for the emancipation of slaves in the District 
of Columbia, although there were not more than two 
.thousand of them in that section. This, we do not hesi- 
tate to say, was, considering its result, the most atrocious 
and the most ruinous legislative act that could have been 
adopted in the then condition of the country. It revealed 
the animus of the men who had got into pOwer ; it cre- 
ated dismay in the ranks of the conservative men who sin- 
cerely loved their country and who had been flattered by 
the vain hope that Congress would not push its sectional 
policy to an extreme degree. 

But what was the course of the Administration durmg 
this period ? What return did it make to the loyal North 
for the immense army and vast sums of money which had 
been placed at its disposal ? What return did it make for 
all this ? Let us enumerate : Freedom of speech and of 
the Press placed mider censorship; the arbitrary arrest 
and incarceration of loyal citizens; the conversion of 
forts, which were intended for defense against invasion by 



32 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

a foreign foe, into bastiles for the imprisonment of free- 
men ; the overthrow of State rights, and the breaking 
down of State boundaries ; the flagrant and unnecessary 
violation of constitutional guarantees ; the fiendish frauds 
practiced upon men who volunteered for the defense of 
the Union and the Constitution, but who had been sacri- 
ficed to Abolition designs. These are some of the returns 
which have been made by the Administration to the 
people for the trust and confidence which was so freely 
given, but which has been so vilely abused. 

Having failed, even through the aid of a draft which in- 
creased our army to eight or nine hundred thousand men, 
to bring back the South, the President resorted, in the 
last extremity, to his Emancipation Proclamation, threat- 
ening the seceded States with all the horrors of a negro 
insurrection in th.e event of their continued obstinacy. It 
was a desperate expedient, and could have its conception 
only in the brains or the perverted imagination of an 
Abolition fanatic. 

It declared the slaves of all the States in rebellion free 
after a hundred days ; but his declaration of freedom has 
had no more effect on them than that mythical " bull 
against the comet," which, with the jocularity that charac- 
terizes even his most serious moments, he compared it with. 

But this was not all ; for that " bull" which he issued 
against the South has only returned to gore its owner. It 
was not enough, however, that he should increase the 
bitter feeling in the South, he must also insult the loyal 
¥orth by placing it under martial law, and annulhng, 
thereby, the supreme law of the land. We* say that this 
was not only an insult, but it was worse ; it was the 
subjection of ISTorthern citizens to military authority ; it 
was the overthrow of State rights, and the beginning of a 
system of consolidation which, if permitted by the people, 
must inevitably result in the establishment of a permanent 
military despotism. 

We ask any candid reader if, in the foregoing review, 
wo have not presented a truthful statement of the policy 
of the Administration and its ruinous efifects upon the 
present condition and future prospects of the country. Is 
it possible, after the sad experience of the past two years, 



METKOPOLITAN EEOOKD. 23 

that any man can believe tile present war will result in the 
restoration of the Union ? Are we not farther from this 
cons-iimmation than we were two years ago ? Have we 
not in the Administration the same tools to work with 
that' we have been rising so ineffectually during that pe- 
riod ? Has not that Administration been furnished at 
various times with armies amomiting in the aggregate to 
fifteen hundred thousand men, and with the sinews of war 
to the amount of one thousand milHons of dollars ? What 
proof have we that another thousand millions of dollars 
Avill not be as recklessly squandered, and another fifteen 
hundred thousand men as fruitlessly employed in binding 
together with the sword the severed members of a broken 
Union? Has the Administration not furnished us with 
sufiicient evidence of its own incompetency, and the utter 
impracticability of the desperate undertaking in which it 
haa so recklessly engaged ? For we insist that the loork 
of subjugating the South is an ionpossihility ^ and when 
the Administration called in the aid of negro slaves by a 
vile and infamous proclamation, a proclamation that should 
make the blood of every freeman tingle in his veins, that 
should mantle the temple of every American citizen with 
^he crimson blush of shame — when the Admmistration did 
this, it afforded to the world an admission of its impossi- 
bility. What a disgraceful avowal was contained in the 
bill presented in Congress for the enlistment of three hun- 
dred thousand negroes ! What a fiendish expedient with 
which to make war upon the defenseless women and chil- 
dren of the South, and to rouse against the Repubhc the 
indignation of civilized humanity ! Did those recreants 
to their own race think of their wives and children as they 
sat brooding in demoniac council over the fiendish plot 
that was to bring massacre, and rapine, and outrage into 
the homes on Southern plantations, sprinkhng their hearths 
with the blood of gentle women, helpless age, and inno- 
cent childhood ? Never was a blacker crime sought to be 
committed against nature, against humanity, against the 
holy precepts of Christianity, and against all principles of 
rnanly and civihzed warfare. There is no language suffi- 
ciently strong to brand this diabohcal measure as it de- 
serves. But it will fail, as it has failed already m the first 



24 ARTICLES FROM THE 

instance, and as we trust for the honor of the country, for 
the honor of the American name, for the honor of our com- 
mon humanity which has been outraged in its best in- 
stincts, we trust such measures will always and ever fail. 

This may be construed as treason ; but we are utterly 
indifferent to the charge. We have not yet learned to 
speak of the powers that be with bated breath and whis- 
pering humbleness. We are, as we have ever been, op- 
posed to this war. We are for peace, and to secure this 
end we are in favor of an armistice. We have had two 
years of war without any result, so far as the restoration 
of the Union is concerned. Let us try peace, and a Con- 
vention of the States. We have had enough of blood, and 
only the cormorants that surround the White House, and 
that are to be found in the purlieus of the Capitol fatten- 
ing on the public treasury, growing rich as the country 
grows poor, heaping up their ill-gotten gains which aug- 
ment with the increase of taxes that are already crushing 
down the industrial classes of the country ; only such as 
these will oppose the demand. The man who insists upon 
the prolongation of this war should do that ichich he wants 
others to do ; he should not wait for the conscription ; he 
should shoulder his musket and march to the battle-field, 
where the deadly rifle-ball is the only argument with which 
he will have to deal. 

Yes, this work of blood has gone on long enough, and it 
is time to understand the lesson which we have been taught 
by the last two, years — that the military suhjugatlon of the 
South is an impossibility. We are told that anything is 
preferable to a divided country, but a Union under a mil- 
itary despotism would be still worse. Besides^ how is it 
possible that the representatives of a p>arty which has been 
actuated and governed by the spirit of division and dis- 
unionfrom its very inception can restore the Union ? 

Are fig^of thistles, 

Or grapes of thorns ? 
Has not the Abolition party been the "party of disunion, 
and has not the President adopted their policy in his 
Emancipation Proclamation ? The Abolitionists are to 
this country what the Orangemen are to Ireland. They 
feed and live upon dissension. For our own part, we have 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 25 

no hope of union from the present Administration, and the 
sooner, therefore, this war stops, the better it will be for 
the people and the preservation of their liberties. Let us 
be warned in time; let us be no longer deceived. We 
must depend for our protection upon the Sovereign States ; 
they are the breakwater upon which the encroaching waves 
of Federal usurpation will break in vain. Let us not 
abandon the principle of freedom for a Union which would 
be unprofitable without it. There is a union between 
England and Ireland. There is a union between Russia 
and Poland. In both instcmces the xtnion has been ac- 
coynplished and maintained by the sword. Is that the 
union we &eek ? Is the South to be a dependency held by 
the military power of the North, which, to secure the con- 
nection, must give up its liberties and merge its State sov- 
ereignties into a consolidated despotism. 

Let us, then, have peace. Let the people tell the Ad- 
ministration there has been enough of blood-letting, and 
that its creatures have had enough of plunder from the 
pubhc treasury. Let the attempt to enforce the Conscrip- 
tion Act be met with the demand for peace — a demand 
which, swelling up in thunder tones from the great heart 
of the people, will warn the Administration that its dis- 
union policy is at an end, that the war must cease, and 
that, through the instrumentality of a ^NTational Conven- 
tion, to be called by the Sovereign States, they will meet 
their brethren of the South, as freemen should meet free- 
men, in the spirit of compromise and conciliation. If the 
Union is ever to be restored, it wiU be through such' 
means, and such means alone ; but if the policy of the Ad- 
ministration has rendered reunion impossible, then let us 
preserve our liberty, and let us see to it that the precious 
gift bequeathed to us by the freemen of the Revolution is 
not lost through the supineness and indifierence of their 
unworthy descendants, who, in grasping at the shadow, 
have lost the substance. 



26 ARTICLES FROM THE 

A GREAT STATESMAN SPEAKING TO THE PEOPLE. 

ALEXANDER HAMILT02^ ON COERCION AND CIYIL WAR. 

{From the IVIetropolitan Record, April 4, 1863.) 

The following is an extract from a speech, delivered in 
1T88, of thatgreat statesman and true p-atriot, Alexander 
Hamilton, in the Convention that was held in the State 
of New York for the ratification of the Constitution of 
the United States. It will be remembered that Hamilton 
was also, a member of the Convention which framed the 
Constitution : 

"THE STATES CAN NEVER LOSE THEIR POWERS TILL THE 
WHOLE PEOPLE OF AMERICA ARE ROBBED OF THEIR LIB- 
ERTIES. THESE MUST GO TOGETHER. THEY MUST SUPPORT 
EACH OTHER OR MEET A COMMON FATE. I WISH THE COM- 
MITTEE TO REMEMBER THAT THE CONSTITUTION UNDER 
EXAMINATION IS FRAMED UPON TRULY REPUBLICAN PRIN- 
CIPLES, AND THAT, AS IT IS EXPRESSLY DESIGNED FOR A 
COMMON PROTECTION AND THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE 
UNITED STATES, IT MUST BE UTl^ERLY REPUGNANT TO THIS 
CONSTITUTION TO SUBVERT THE STATE GOVERN]\IENTS OR 
OPPRESS THE PEOPLE. THE COERCION OF STATES IS ONE OP 
THE MADDEST PROJECTS THAT WAS EVER DEVJSED. A FAIL- 
URE OF COMPLIANCE WILL NEVER BE CONFINED TO A SINGLE 
STATE. THIS BEING THE CASE, CAN WE SUPPOSE IT WISE 
TO HAZARD A CIVIL WAR ? IT WOULD BE A NATION AT WAR 
WITH ITSELF. CAN ANY REASONABLE MAN BE WELL DIS- 
POSED TOWARD A GOVERNMENT THAT MAKES WAR AND CAR- 
NAGE THE ONLY I^IEANS OF SUPPORTING ITSELF— A GOVERN- 
IVIENT THAT CAN EXIST ONLY BY THE SWORD ? EVERY SUCH 
WAR MUST INVOLVE THE INNOCENT WITH THE GUILTY. 
THIS SINGLE CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT BE INEFFICIENT 
TO DISPOSE EVERY PEACEABLE CTTIZEN AGAINST SUCH A 
GOVERNMENT." 

We have given more than usual prominence to this 
extract from the patriotic speech of one of the greatest 
statesmen of the Revolution — a man who was justly re- 
garded by Washington with the highest esteem, and who 
was considered by some writers as one of the first among 
the patriots of that period. Never was such a warning 
more needed than at the present time, when the people are 
apparently so indifierent to the daily encroachments of a 
sectional administration upon their rights and liberties 
Our present troubles are mainly owing to the frequent 



METROPOLITAN KECOED. 27 

departures which have been witnessed in these days from 
the principles of the Revohition, and we shall never 
restore the integrity of the country until we return to the 
position maintained through every emergency by the 
fathe-rs of the Republic. 

Hamilton said that the Constitution was expressly de- 
signed for the common protection and the general welfare 
of the United States ; but what j^rotection has it afforded 
to the citizen against arbitrary arrest — against the sup- 
pression of freedom of speech and of the press, against 
the overthrow of State sovereignty, against the suspen- 
sion of the habeas corpus, against the seizure of the very 
judge upon the bench ? — what protection has it afforded 
under all these circumstances ? Absolutely none. Abra- 
ham Lincoln — a man who is as immeasurably below Alex- 
ander Hamilton as the black race is below the white — has 
found in his sectional policy a pretext for setting aside that 
Constitution which Hamilton told us is expressly designed 
for the common protection and the general welfare of the 
United States. He has not found it " repugnant" thereto 
to subvert the State governments, or oppress the people ; 
and he evidently does not consider that " the coercion of 
States is one of the maddest of projects that was ever de- 
vised." Neither does he regard it as unwise to liazard a 
civil war ; and as for the tact of it being " a nation at war 
with itself," what matters it so long as the wretched crea- 
tures who are waxing fat upon the miseries of the people 
can heap up their ill-gotten wealth. 

Let those who would prolong this war, and who would 
denounce us for our opposition to the course of the Ad- 
ministration, read the startling words of Alexander Ham- 
ilton. Our reply to their denunciation will be found in 
the following sentence, which is particularly appropriate, 
and possesses a peculiar significance at the pi^sent time : 

" Cax any reasonable man be well disposed toward 
A Government that makes war and carnage the only 

MEANS OF SUPPORTING ITSELF A GOVERNMENT THAT CAN 

EXIST ONLY BY THE SWORD ?" 

Let us ask if t^iis so-called national Administration does 
not make " war and carnage the only means of supporting 
itself?" Does not it and its creatures threaten every man 



28 AETICLE8 FEOM THE 

that dares to advocate a discontinuance of the war ? and 
has not Congress placed the purse and sword of the nation 
under its complete control ? The single consideration al- 
luded to by Hamilton has disposed ourselves as well as 
" every peaceable citizen against such a Government." 

But we have other reasons equally powsrful in favor of 
a discontinuance of the war. We entertain serious fears 
for the perpetuation of popular liberty. We behold grow- 
ing up day by day a constantly increasing class, Avho find 
their interest in the present fratricidal conflict. We see 
springing up a so-called Loyal League, which, if not 
crushed out by public opinion, may be employed as a gar- 
rison in every city and town and village in the land, to 
tyrannize over the people, and to keep them down, as the 
Poles have been kept down by Russia, by the strong arm 
of despotic force. When we reaUze the immense moneyed 
power and influence in the control of the President, we 
fear for the future freedom of the people — that is, if the 
people are untrue to themselves. We fear that political 
corruption, through the ever-ready bribe of place or profit, 
may undermine the oflicial integrity of our representatives 
in Congress, and render them the ready and wiUing tools 
of a debased and demoralized Administration. Let the 
people be warned in time. Let them assemble in mass 
meetings all over the country, and convey, through such 
mediums, their desires and their demands to their repre- 
sentatives. It is true that we will have a conservative 
majority in the next Congress; but let us take care that 
our representatives are not bought, as it is said was done 
with one of the members of our State Legislature. A 
shrewd but corrupt statesman once said that every man 
had his price. If this be so, let us ascertain how much it 
would cost the Administration to secure the vote of any 
purchasable member for the support of its Abolition pol- 
icy. If by the expenditure of four or five millions of its 
eight millions secret fund it could buy a suflicient number 
of votes to give it a majority in Congress, what security 
would the people have against the establishment of a per- 
manent military despotism — what security save through a 
successful and bloody revolution ? 

If the people are indiflerent to their future rights and 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 29 

Kberties — if they are ready to yield the precious inherit- 
ance bequeathed to them by the patriots of the Revohition 
—then, indeed, it is a matter of utter indifference how 
their representatives may act in the next vital and import- 
ant session of Congress. But if they would preserve their 
freedom and independence intact, they will, as we have 
said, assemble in mass meetings throughout the country, 
and instruct their representatives in such a manner as to 
leave no doubt whatever in regard to the course they are 
to pursue. \ 

We sincerely trust that the next Congress will not ad- 
journ until it shall have presented a bill of impeachment 
against the President, for his repeated and flagrant viola- 
tions of the Constitution. 

We punish the burglar who- enters our house at the 
dead hour of night and carries away our property. Why, 
then, should we allow the highest public official in the 
land, the chief servant of the people, who has stolen our 
liberties, or attempted to do so — why should we allow 
him to escape ? We inflict the severest penalty known to 
the law upon him who takes the hfe of his fellow-man. 
Shall the man whose policy has aimed a deadly blow at 
the national life escape the penalties imposed by the Con- 
stitution ? 



GROUNDS OF IMPEACHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT. 

{From the Metropolitan Record, April 11, 1863.) 

That there are grounds for impeachment no one who 
has watched the course of the Executive can doubt. If 
the Constitution were so much waste paper, it could not 
have been more contemptuously thrown aside. Every 
provision which tended to secure individual liberty has 
been set at naught ; the barriers which it erected against 
Federal usurpation have been trampled under foot; and 
the President of the United States possesses at the pres- 
ent moment as much power as the Autocrat of all the 
Russias. JPossesses / but will hardly dare to use ; for men 



80 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

born to freedom and brought up in the exercise of citizen 
rights, can not with impunity be treated as serfs or even 
as subjects. The pHant Congress that manufactured a 
Dictator out of a^Rej^ubhcan President made but sorry- 
work of it when it omitted to transform citizens into 
slaves. The edifice of despotism, like every other edifice, 
is subject to architectural laws, and must be built up^ not> 
doion. To be successful, they should have begun with the 
people, not the President. The people are still true to 
Kepubhcan principles, they love the Government which 
their fathers founded, they cling to the Constitution even 
as the shipwrecked mariner chngs to his last chance of 
safety, and they glory in that majestic aggregate of free 
federated rej^ublics which we call the Union. The great 
heart of the people is sound at the core, as evidenced in 
the overwhelming conservative majorities returned against 
the Administration candidates in New York, Ohio, Illinois, 
Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The men thus 
returned are a living protest against the Administration — ■ 
they are the embodied rebuke of six sovereign States 
against the policy which has thus far governed the Chief 
Executive. These political victories prove the radical 
change that has taken place in public opinion since the 
previous elections ; they indicate that the tide is on the 
turn whose refluent waves will sweep away the knaves and 
fools and fanatics who have brought disgrace upon pur 
proud Republic. These victories are the death-kneU of 
the Abolition party, and they must strike upon the Presi- 
dential ear like an alarm-bell in the night. 

Men returned upon this express issue of opposition to 
the Administration will not shrink from impeaching the 
President whenever it is deemed expedient to do so. Let 
us enumerate some of the grounds on which he is open to 
impeachment. The Constitution says : 

Article 4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, 
shall not be violated. And no warrant shall issue but upon probable 
causes, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing 
the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized. 

We will not insult our readers by proving that this ar 
tide has been violated. 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 31 

The Constitution says : 

Art. 5. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise 
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand 
jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the mili 

tia, when in act-ual service in time of war or danger ; nor 

be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. 

And this article has been violated. 
The Constitution says : 

Art. 1, sec. 2. "When vacancies happen in the representation fr®m 
any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election 
to fill such vacancies. 

And this has been violated. 
The Constitution says : 

Art. 1, sec. 9. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not 
be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public 
safety may require it. 

And this has been again and again outrageously and 
flagrantly violated. 

The Constitution says : 

Art, 3, sec. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only 
in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving 
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless 
on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confes- 
sion in open court. 

The very walls of the Government bastiles could testify 
to the violation of this article. 

Under the same article and section we find that Con- 
gress has power to declare the punishment of treason ; but 
mark what follows : 

No attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, 
except during the life of the person attainted. 

Call to mind the emancipation proclamation, declaring 
negroes henceforth and forever free ; and also the Confis- 
cation Act, which is a gross violation of the Constitution. 

The Constitution says : 

_ Art. 4, sec. 3. No new State shall be formed or erected within the 
jurisdiction of any other State .... without the consent of 
the Legislature of the State concerned as well as of the Congress. 

Is not Kanawha an ever-present proof of a violated 
Constitution ? 



33 ARTICLES FROM 'HIE 

We come now to other articles of the Constitution, and 
we find the express declaration : 

Congress shall make no law .... al)riclging the freedom of 
speech or of the press. 

The suspension of conservative papers and the incarcer- 
ation of outspoken men testifies, trumpet-tongued, to the 
violation of this fundamental right of freemen. 

The Constitution says : 

Art. 2. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be 
infringed. 

Tliis has also been violated. 

Here, then, is matter for impeachment — here are express 
violations of the Constitution. But there are others not 
less serious, concerning which the Constitution is silent, 
and which are in direct opposition to the essence and spirit 
of that immortal document. The Constitution does not 
say exjircssly there must be no espionage exercised by 
Government over the citizens of the Republic. Military 
governors must not be appointed, test oaths, illegal and 
arbitrary, must not be prescribed, martial law must not be 
proclaimed over States not in rebellion, white men must 
not be taxed to purchase freedom for the negro ; but these 
things were not forbidden, simply because they were not 
foreseen. Who doubts that they are in direct op2)osition 
to the spirit of the Constitution? If violations of the 
letter and spirit of the Constitution can be compassed with 
impunity, and that, too, by men bound by solemn obliga- 
tions to support it — men who owe their continuance in 
ofiice to the very instrument they violate — if such crimi- 
nals 'scape "unwhipt of justice," then adieu to Liberty, 
and " farewell, a long farewell to all 'our greatness." 

The impeachment of Abraham Lincoln would vindicate 
the majesty of the Constitution, and to the next Congress 
we look for that vindication. We shall conclude by giving 
the solenni oath which he took on the day of his inaugura- 
tion : 

/ do solemnhj sivcar {or aj)irm) that I will faithfully execute the office of 
Preside/it of the Uniicd Stalci^, and will, to the /xwi of my ability, preserve^ pro* 
ted, and defend the Constituiion of tJie United States. 

How has this oath been kept ? 



METEOPOIJTAN EECORD. 33 

THE EFFECTS OF ABOLITIONISM. 

{Frem the Metropolitan Record, Ap-il 4, 18G3.) 

The American people, with nil their shrewdness, with 
all their business tact, with all their so-called Yankee 
'cnteness, which is said always to get the best in a bar- 
s^ain, are the most easily humbugged in the world. They 
have not only tolerated, but, to a great extent, nurtured 
and sustained a party that has caused a division of the 
country, and that, if longer sustained and tolerated, will 
plunge it into irremediable anarchy and ruin. 

Never was a nation so afflicted, so cursed by a miserable 
faction in its midst, a faction which has lived upon discord, 
and the triumph of which has been the knell of the Re- 
public. It has been the unswerving ally of a foreign foe, 
and it has worked with a zeal that knew no ceasing to 
overthrow the liberties of a nation which was based upon 
the principles of self-government. Claiming to Avork in 
the interests of humanity, it has plunged the land in a civil 
war, that has rocked it to and fro as if convulsed by the 
waters of a mighty deluge. 

It has -succeeded in estranging the North from the 
South, and in the election of a President whose adminis- 
tration will be infamous through all time for its subversion 
of popular rights ; it has succeeded in the overthrow of 
that Constitution and Union which it has stigmatized as 
"a league with death and a covenant with hell;" and its 
triumph can be seen in the ravages of this melancholy 
war, in the bloody battle-fields that mark the dividing line 
between the North and the South, in the thousands of 
homes which have been made desolate throughout the 
country, and in the wretched, miserable attempt which is 
now being made by an incompetent, imbecile Administra- 
tion to fasten a military despotism upon the country. It 
has been the faction of dissension and destruction, the 
party of discord and disunion ; and yet its principles have 
been adopted in the White House, and its policy has en- 
tered largely into the- management of this war. The so- 
called national Administration, almost from the beginning, 
showed a predilection for Abolitionism, and it now no 

2* 



84: ARTICLES FROM THE 

longer represents tlie great majority of the people in its 
management of national affairs. 

We say only what is patent when we assert that the 
President has violated again and again his oath of office, 
and that the evidence of this is to be found in the efforts 
of Congress to indemnify him against the consequences 
of his unwarrantable and unconstitutional acts. 

It will hardly be denied that the President has not only 
acted in utter defiance of his official obligations, but that 
his course has been in direct antagonism with the feelings 
of the great conservative majority of the North. He has 
stamped himself for all coming time as thi Abolition 
President, as the man who, misled by the designing coun- 
cils of Northern disunionists, falsified his pledges to the 
people, and abandoning the only moderate, conservative 
policy which could save the country, flung himself into the 
hands of its enemies, and rendered useless the expenditure 
of the vast amount of blood and of treasure which had 
been poured out for the supposed salvation of the Re- 
public. 

Let us see if we can find any justification for his course 
in the sincerity of the party to whose principles and policy 
he yielded such a willing acquiescence. What is that 
party? It is known by the singularly expressive and 
truthful title of " abolition," and its leaders are notorious 
for their efibrts to bring the supreme law of the land into 
disrepute, and to overthrow a Union established by States, 
the majority of which were slaveholding. After more 
than three quarters of a century of unexampled prosperity, 
and the enjoyment of popular liberty to a degree that was 
never before realized in this world, these men have dis- 
covered that the whole system was wrong, and that the 
ii^egrity of the Republic must be set aside for the further- 
ance of an impracticable theory. By the most persistent 
endeavors they have enlisted an influential portion of the 
press in their cause, impregnating the very literature of 
the North with their disorganizing influences ; and yet it 
seems almost incredible that so far as the practical working 
of this principle is regarded, we can hardly, with the 
single exception of John Brown and his hair-brained asso- 
ciates, find a case of self-sacrifice among them. 



METROPOLITAN- KECOED. 35 

Here we have been at war with the South for nearly 
two years, and yet no part has been taken, nor is it likely 
that any part will be taken, by Wendell Phillips, Lloyd 
Garrison, Wilson, and Sumner, of Massachusetts, Hale, of 
iSTew Plampshire, and other leading Abolitionists, in a war 
which is now professedly waged for the emancipation of 
the negro. Nay, we venture to say that the real simon- 
pure Abolitionists do not bear the proportion of one to 
every hundred in the Union army. They have not even 
succeeded in organizing an anti-slavery force in the whole 
North of two thousand. While others have been impor- 
tuning for months for the ranks of colonel and brigadier- 
general, not one of them has ever applied for such a posi- 
tion, although doubtless our Abohtion President would 
most willingly have granted their applications. True, they 
can point to such men as Fremont and Jim Lane; but 
where are the Sumners, and Giddings, and Gerrit Smiths, 
and Wades, and Lovejoys, and Beechers, and Cheevers, 
not to speak of Fred Douglass himself, the very personifi- 
cation and embodiment of Abolitionism ? 

Do we not know that Wilson organized a regiment 
which he never took into the field? and that both Fre- 
mont and Jim Lane have proved the most lamentable fail- 
ures in the military hue that ever afflicted the War 
Department of any country ? Beecher, during the Kansas 
troubles, was content to call upon the people to contribute 
for Sharp's rifles, but he never used one. And since the 
fighting has commenced, we have not even heard that any 
regiment was called after the well-known authoress of 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin." 

But this is not all; for we have been looking in vain for 
any movement on the part of the Abohtionists toward 
collecting money for the famihes of the brave fellows who 
have perished in a war which was brought upon the coun- 
try by their wretched and ruinous policy. While they 
call upon others to sacrifice themselves, they refuse even 
to extend the hand of charity to the poor victims of their 
fiendish machinations to undermine the foundations of the 
Republic and the principles of self-government. 

Never was a greater curse inflicted upon a country than 
that of a faction which, like the Abolitionists here and the 



36 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

Orangemen in Ireland, seeks in the ascendancy of its sec- 
tional, disorganizing, and anarchical policy and measures 
the destruction of national unity. 

The mistake of our so-called national Administration 
was in not making war upon this party instead of upon 
the South,; for it is in it that our national troubles found 
tht-lr origin, as it is in the Abolition policy of the Admin- 
istration that the leaders of the South find their jusUfica- 
tion and their strength. So long, therefore, as this party 
continues dominant in the North — so long as its principles 
find expression through the policy and acts of the Admin- 
istration — no opportunity should be lost in denouncing 
through the press and through the assemblies of the peo- 
ple its insidious designs, and in warning the Administra- 
tion against a compliance with its demands. If we want 
to get back the South, let us put down Abolitionism in the 
North ; for so long as its councils prevail in the Cabinet, 
and direct the management of the war, so long will we 
fail in our efibrts to restore peace and union to our dis- 
tracted country. 



WHAT IS A LOYAL LEAGUER? 

{From the Metbopoltan Kecord, April 11, 1863.) 

• 

A MA^q- whose patriotism is measured by his official 
position under the Government, or by the amounts of 
money received for Government contracts. 

A man who desires that every one else should go to the 
war, but who is unwilling to risk his own precious body 
within reach of either cannon or rifle ball. 

A man who insists that Ave should support the President 
as much when he is wrong as when he is right, and who 
asserts that the Emancipation Proclamation is a capital 
war measure. 

The man who regards the Conscription Bill as the 7ie 
plus ultra of Congressional legislation, but who would 
rather pay three hundred dollars any time than shoulder a 
musket. 



AEETEOPOLITAN EECORD. 37 

The man who, to subdue the South and hold it in mili- 
tary subjection, would burden the laboring classes of the 
North with a system of taxation even more oppressive 
than that of any European country. 

The man who scoffs at sucli a thing as freedom of dis- 
cussion when employed against the policy of the Adminis- 
tration, and who would hang every citizen that was in 
favor of peace. 

The tax collector, the Custom House official, the Post- 
Office clerk, et hoc genus omne^ who sustain the Adminis- 
tration because it sustains them. 

The man who contends that the conservative majority 
are in the wrong, and the radical minority are in the 
right. 

The man who is callous-hearted with regard to the deso- 
lation brought upon thousands of Northern homes by this 
cruel, unnecessary, fratricidal, and Abolition war. 

The man who disregards the lessons of the past and the 
hopes of the future ; upon whose ear the warnings of the 
great statesmen of the country have fallen unheeded, and 
who cares not how soon the Republic may be converted 
into a despotism. 

The man who would subvert the liberties of white men 
or the emancipation of a race who are unfit for any other 
state than that of dependence. 

This is a tolerably accurate sketch of the Loyal Leaguer. 
He is naturally such a character as constitutes the ready 
and willing tool of tyranny. He is acquiescent in every- 
thing which the powers that be may deem necessary 
toward the suppression of popular freedom. He may 
have taken an oath to support the Constitution, but he has 
not a word to say in reprobation of the usurpation of its 
most solemn obhgations. He believes that all those rights 
which make the Union precious and valuable in the eyes 
of freemen should be held in abeyance till the Administra- 
tion can wreak its wicked will in the furtherance of its 
Abolition and fanatical designs. What cares he for the 
Union as it was ? What cares he for the principles of the 
great Revolution ? He is a Government contractor, mak- 
ing his thousands a year by the prolongation of this war. 
He assumes the name of " loyal," because it agrees with 



38 ARTICLES FROM THE 

his instincts, for loyalty to him has a pleasant sound. It 
is not allegiance to the Constitution about which he talks, 
but an unquestioning, slavish obedience to the behests of 
the Administration. He is perhaps a candidate for official 
promotion, and would not venture to criticise the official 
acts of the authorities. He" is nominally an American 
citize;i ; but as for the assertion of his rights in the face 
of despotic power, he would not dream of such disloyalty. 
He can see no difference between the Government and the 
Administration., and would put down free speech with the 
strong arm of force ; and, with the aid of Provost Mar- 
shals and the terrors of Government bastiles, would stamp 
out the very life and soul of American citizenship. 

He has either the feelmgs of a despot or the cringing 
servility of a slave. Ask him to do his share of the fight- 
ing, and he seeks immediate refuge in the three-hundred- 
dollar clause of the Conscription Act. Tell him that this 
is a war of Emancipation and Confiscation — a war for the 
black man and not for the white — and he calls you a 
traitor. Tell him that those only are traitors who have 
violated the Constitution, who have broken their oath of 
office, and who seek refuge in a worthless indemnity bill, 
the very evidence of their criminaUty ; tell him this, and 
he will doom you, if he have the power, to some one of 
those forts which were built for the protection of the 
country, and not for the suppression of the liberties of the 
citizen. 

He is an Abolitionist in the true sense of the word, for 
he would not only abolish Slavery, but he would abolish 
State sovereignty, and every right guaranteed by the su- 
preme law of the land. 

We know there are men who have joined this League 
to whom this analysis of the character of its members will 
not apply, and who have been led into it from a sincere 
belief in its integrity of purpose; but Ave perceive that 
many have already withdrawn, having discovered its true 
object and designs. In fact, it has already broken up into 
factions, as it was found that such men and the Abolition- 
ists could not coalesce. This is a consummation such as 
every good citizen should desire, and we trust that here- 
after they will not be deceived by any societies that put 



METBOPOLITAN RECORD. 



39 



forth as their motto, " Unconditional Loyalty to the 
Administration." The phrase has an unpleasant sound in 
the ears of a freeman, for here allegiance is dae to the 
people by their piibhc servants : outside of the people and 
the Constitution there should be no allegiance, so far as 
American citizenship is concerned. 



GRAND PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATION. 

THE LOYAL LEAGUE OF SPOUTEES AND MUTUAL PUFFERS 
IN COUNCIL. 

MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY OF BANNERS, BANDS, AND BATHOS. 

THE VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF THE WAR UNANIMOUSLY 
DEMANDED. 

EXPLOSION OF A TERRIFIC BOMB-SHELL IN THE MEETING, 
AND UNIVERSAL SKEDADDLE OF THE PATRIOTS.. 

A3f ANACONDA FOR THE SOUTH AND BOA-CONTRACTORS 
FOR THE NORTH. 

[reported exolttsively foe the. recoed.] 
{From the Metropolitan Kecord, >4pri7 4, 1863.) 

Peddlers' Hall, Bunkum Square, was crowded a few 
weeks ago by one of the most enthusiastic gatherings 
which it has ever been our lot to behold. 

Every man was furnished with an exact portrait of John 
Brown, the first invader of the Souths while in the secret 
recesses of his portemonnaie lay concealed, carefully folded, 
a representation of the immortal Abe, printed in the high- 
est style of art on the front of a greenback. 

It is needless to say that they were all membe-rs of the 
Loyal Leagi'ie of^Spouters, and strenuous upholders of the 
Mutual Puffing Society. Each one of these was in favor 
of the prolongation of the war until every slave in the 
South was set free and permitted to enjoy that highest 
privilege possessed by their colored brethren in the North, 
of doing nothuig and of livin-g uj)on something. They 
were also strenuous and uncompromising advocates of the 



4:0 AKTIOLES FROM THE 

right of the Government to send every poor white man to 
the war and to exempt every rich man therefrom on the 
payment of three hundred dollars. These praiseworthy 
objects of the Loyal League of Spouters and members of 
the Mutual Puffing Society ought to be sufficient to recom- 
mend them to the esteem and respect of their fellow-cit- 
izens. But there is one other feature of the organization 
which reflects no less creditably on its founders and its 
members. It is the wonderful self-abnegation which they 
exhibit in leaving the honors of the battle-field to be 
reaped by others. While they are satisfied to do the 
talking, the self-sacrifice which they display in allowing 
others to reap the laurels of military fame is beyond all 
praise. The Loyal League of Union Spouters are, as their 
name indicates, in favor of the Union to a man, and are 
determined to save the Repubhc by the most scathing and 
withering phihppics against Jeff Davis and his rebel asso- 
ciates. As long as there is a greenback to be spent for 
contracts ; as long as there is a white man to fight for the 
negro ; as long as there is a Constitution to be ignored 
by the powers that be, so long will they continue their 
patriotic exertions. 

Each man of them, at the time of his initiation into the 
League, took no less than ninety-nine oaths to support the 
President and to 23ut down the South, and some of the 
leading members are earnestly engaged in sustaining the 
Government by their official connection with the Post- 
Office, the Custom-House, and other Government depart- 
ments. They have been accused by their enemies of too 
strong a desire to remain at home ; but are their accusers 
so blind as not to see t^at somebody must remain at home ? 
And do they not recognize the beauty of that peculiar 
pohcy which forces aU those to fight who are opposed to 
the war, leaving behind the men who are in favor of its 
vigorous prosecution to assist in collecting taxes and in 
electing men to office who are bound to sustain the Gov- 
ernment despite the Constitution. What dolts, then, 
must the people be not to see the benefits to be derived 
from such a truly patriotic body as the newly-organized 
Loyal League of Spouters and Mutual Puffing Society. 

If the readers of the Record are not fully acquainted 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 41 

with the laudable object of those noble-minded and disin- 
terested men, then they know not the meaning of true pa- 
triotism. 

The meeting was one of the most enthusiastic ever as- 
sembled within the aqueous boundaries of our island city ; 
and the massive walls of Peddlers' Hall resounded again 
and again to the plaudits of the multitude, as some crush- 
ing sentence was hurled at the Southern Confederacy, 
threatening to knock both it and its leaders into the mid- 
dle of next week, or some " undiscovered bourne whence 
no traveler returns." — ^hakspeare. 

The stage was crowded with the orators of the occasion, 
conspicuous among whom we observed the brilliant lights 
of the American bar, Counselor Van Gabble and Coun- 
selor O'PuiF, who were accompanied by Major-General 
Fleece, Honorable John Ketch, and several distinguished 
members of the learned professions. In front of the stage 
were displayed a large number of transparencies, bearing 
patriotic devices and inscriptions, among which the fol- 
lowing were particularly deserving of notice : 

*' No compromise with IVaitors." 

" Conciliation is a Humbug !" 

** "We must sustain the President !" 

" The Constitution be blowed !" 

*' The Three Hundred Dollar Conscription Bill forever !" 

One of the branch societies of the Loyal League of 
Spouters exhibited a new and ingenious device on the 
American flag, which attracted the admiring gaze of the 
spectators. Instead of the square blue field on which we 
see emblazoned the Stars of the Union, was painted a per- 
fect /ac simile of a United States treasury note; while on 
another flag, borne by the standard-bearer of .a similar so- 
ciety, the Goddess of Liberty was represented in a stoop- 
ing posture, with the last illustrious successor of Washing- 
ton perched upon her back. 

There was one transparency on which was represented 



^g ARTICLES FROM THE 

a full-length portrait of a negro, with the following words 
inscribed beneath : 

*' Am I not a man and a bother ?" 

It will be observed that the r in the last word of the in- 
scription is omitted ; but this is accounted for by the fact 
that the sentence was painted by a designing sesesh, who 
had neither the fear of the President nor martial law be- 
fore his eyes, and its retention was owing to the other fact, 
that the early education of the secretary of the society 
had been sadly selected, and his fellow-members had for- 
gotten to furnish him with a copy of Webster's School 
Dictionary. This, however, was not the only bad spell 
with which he was occasionally afflicted ; for, unlike the 
majority of creditors in these hard tunes, he was often ob- 
served to be in a state of liquidation. 

A full band, expressly engaged for the occasion, dis- 
coursed most eloquent music, and informed the audience 
in melodious strains that John Brown's peripatetic soul had 
not yet completed its extraordinary march, and that his 
body as yet was in no hurry to effect a union w4th it. 

We should have stated that the band was a brass one, 
a material which, w^e might say, was almost as abundant 
in the meeting as the greenbacks. But we will not 
detain our readers any longer from the intellectual treat 
in store for them, and shall proceed at once, therefore, 
to lay before them the " feast of reason and the flow of 
soul." . 

Never before had we such an opj^ortunity of realizing 
the amount of spirit there is in the New York bar ; but 
we shall not anticipate the treat. 

The meeting was called to order by Hopeful Dryenuf, 
who expressed himself highly delighted with the scene be- 
fore him, and who informed the audience that he had now 
no doubt whatever of the suppression of the rebellion 
when he witnessed the grand outpouring of men who were 
determined to support the Government under any and 
every circumstance. It w^as a hopeful sign of the times 
to behold such an enthusiastic demonstration, and to know 
that the respectable portion of his fellow-citizens whom he 
had now the pleasure of addressing was in favor of sus- 



I^EETEOPOLITAN RECOED. 43 

taming the Administration, and of setting aside the Con- 
stitution whenever it conflicted with the policy of that 
Administration . 

A Voice: The Constitution be blowed. (Enthusiastic 
cheers.) 

Mr. Dryenuf, resuming : That's a patriotic sentiment, 
and as long as we can find men willing to sacrifice every- 
thing for the Union, there is no danger of the — 

Another Voice : The Administration. 

Mr. Dryenuf : Yes, sir, the Administration, I say the 
Administration, and when I say the Administration I mean 
the Administration. [Here Counselor Van Gabble whis- 
pered something in the ear of the speaker.] It has just 
been suggested to me by a distinguished member of the 
New York bar that there are traitors in this assembly — 
that there is a secesh among us. 

Loud cries of " Put him out," " Put him out." 

Here the voice of the secesh was heard exclaiming in 
thunder tones that he was not in the least put out. 

[Great excitement, uproar, and conflision, which was 
only calmed by two or three enthusiastic committeemen 
seizing the greenback banner, and waving it in utter defi- 
ance of the rebellious secesh.] 

Peace having been restored, the Honorable Mr. Dry- 
enuf expressed the supreme felicity he had in introducing 
Mr. Musing, of the Daily Abolition Sticky whose verses to 
a barn-yard fowl are considered by critics to be superior to 
that celc»brated ode on an expiring frog immortaUzed in 
the doings of the Pickwick Club. 

After stating that he was rejoiced to see so many 
Loyal Leaguers and mutual pufiers present, he pleasantly 
and facetiously informed them that as brevity was the 
soul of wit, he would not afiulict them with a long speech, 
preferring to leave that task to others who were more ca- 
pable. He was, he informed them, unaccustomed to pub- 
lic speaking, and he hoped, therefore, that they would not 
expect a speech from him. He was no orator Hke some of 
those he saw around him. 

A Voice : Louder. 

Here Counselor Van Gabble whispered a few words in 
the ear of the poic. 



'44 ARTICLES FROM THE 

Mr. Musing : It has been suggested to me by 'a member 
of the bar, who is distinguished — 

A Voice : Extinguished, you mean. (Vociferous cries 
from all sides of Peddlers' Hall of " Put that man out ! he's 
a traitor." More uproar, which was only calmed by the 
renewed waving of the greenback banner.) 

Mr. Musing, resuming : I said distinguished. 

Two or three voices : You said that before. 

Mr. Musing : Yes, and I'll say it again. I repeat, a 
distinguished member of the bar has just suggested that 
the Government must be sustained at every sacrifice. 
But, gentlemen, as I informed you before, I am not a pub- 
lic speaker. I can handle the i:>en with more dexterity 
than the tongue, and you know the pen is mightier than 
the sword. (Great applause from the speakers and invited 
guests on the stage.) Yes, gentlemen, I say the pen is 
mightier than the sword. (Renewed enthusiastic demon- 
strations from the stage.) - 

A Voice : That's the reason, I suppose, none of you fel- 
lows take the sword.. (Terrific demonstrations were here 
made against the invisible voice, and one gallant indi- 
vidual on the stage informed the Loyal Leaguers and 
Mutual Pufi'ers that if the owner of that voice could be 
found, he should be hung without judge or jury, or the 
benefit of habeas corpus.) 

Mr. Musing, when peace was restored, again told the 
audience that he was unaccustomed to public speaking, 
and would have continued to enlighten them on the same 
subject, were it not for the impatience of the next speaker 
on the programme, who pulled him so violently by the 
coat-tails as to seriously eedanger the pole's perpendicu- 
lar. After informing his audience, therefore, that his 
feelings were too deep for utterance, and that under the 
circumstances he felt imable to address them at farther 
length, he took his seat, and was more vehemently ap- 
plauded for this act than at any time during his remarks. 

His place was taken by the gentleman who had made 
such dangerous demonstrations on his coat-tails as to cause 
serious fears in the mind of the speaker that his caudal ex- 
tremity would be dislocated. In consequence of this gen- 
tleman's extreme modesty, we have concluded, out of re- 



METROPOLITAN KECOED. 45 

spect to his feelings, not to publish his name, and,- for the 
same cogent reason, we regret to say we are obliged to 
omit his speech. However, it may be interesting to know 
that this gentleman informed an inquisitive Irishman that 
the people of this country were descended from England, 
but that there were some Germans who fought " mit 
Sigel." We may say that a friend of this gentleman fur- 
nished us with the manuscript of his speech, but our lim- 
ited space obliges us, however, reluctantly to forego the 
gratification of presenting it in f^iU to our readers. 

At this part of the proceedings a distinguished Govern- 
ment official arrived, and informed the President that the 
Administration was about J,o give out more contracts, and 
that the patriotic gentlemen to whom those contracts were 
awarded would be paid without delay. That they might 
not be kept waiting, it had been concluded by the Admin- 
istration to retain the pay of the soldiers for this laudable 
purpose. He further informed the President that the 
Government currency mills were kept in operation day and 
night, so that there should be no lack of the great and glo- 
rious greenbacks. The Government, he further said, had 
withheld the pay from the soldiers lest, out of disgust for 
the abolition proclamation, they should incontinently ske- 
daddle. The President said nothing, but, shutting his 
sinister eye, gave a wink that expressed volumes. 

One of the Vice-Presidents was heard to say in an under 
tone that they would stand by the President as long as he 
had a greenback in the Treasury. 

This pleasant little interlude having terminated, the 
Honorable Counselor O'PufF, who was said to be a sort 
of cousin-german in the political line to his professional 
associate. Honorable Counselor Van Gabble, and who also 
never forgets to commend himself to the consideration of 
his audience by humorously informing them that he is a 
native of the Sixth Ward, and that he can trace his descent 
from Celtic ancestors, took the floor. 

A Voice : Yes, begorra, and a mighty great descent, too. 

Counselor Van Gabble here came over and whispered 
something in the legal ear of his brother. 

Counselor O'Puif; It has been suggested to me by my 
learned friend that L should take no notice of these vulsrar 



'46 ARTICLES FEpM THE 

interruptions ; but I must say I will not allow my name to 
be trifled with, since the Mutual Puffers have done me the 
honor to use it as the title of their society. 

A Voice : Bah ! what's in a name ? 

(Loud cries of " Put him out," " Hoist him," " Hang 
him," etc.) 

Counselor O'Puff, deprecatingly, with his right hand 
waving in magnificent style, and his left feeling about the 
region of his stomach for his heart, said: Allow me to 
answer that man. I tell you, sir, there's a great deal in a 
name, and I, sir, am a hving exemplification of that fact. 
I have been accused of making too much of my name, and 
some base enemies of mine have insisted that I am too 
fond of talking about it ; but I have nothing for them but 
the language of contempt and of scorn. I know there is 
some doubt as to the place of my nativity ; but, sir, un- 
like most other men, I have had two birthplaces, for I 
have had the good fortune to be a native of Ireland and 
America at the same time. But, gentlemen, as I can not 
get rid of yny name^ I must tell you that, imder the cir- 
cumstances, I think it is a very good one ; and, like Mrs. 
Micawber, I shall never — no, never — desert the family of 
the O'Puffs. (Immense cheering.) The South, gentle- 
men of the Loyal League and Puffing Society, has called 
us Yankees ; but let me say that I am deadly opposed to 
the manufacture of wooden hams and nutmegs ; for, how- 
ever much they may be relished by others, I must say that 
they don't suit my taste. (This joke of the facetious and 
witty speaker set the audience in a roar, and afifected the 
President so much as to bring tears to his eyes. An ob- 
streperous son of Connecticut who was j^resent took ex- 
ception to the joke, and insisted that such reflections were 
highly invidious, and reflected injuriously on two of the 
most essential articles of commerce from his native State.) 
The honorable counselor proceeded, and assured the gen- 
tleman that he was a friend of Connecticut ; that he was 
an ardent admirer of P. T. Barnum ; that if that State had 
done nothing else than to give to the world those wonder- 
ful specimens of the human race, General Tom Thumb and 
his Liliputian bride, it had laid the world under a debt of 
gratitude which it could never repay, (This mollified the 



METROPOLITAN EECOKD. '47 

native of the Nutmeg State ; and having stated that the 
apology was satisfactory, and that there would be no oc- 
casion for either coffee or pistols, he resumed his seat and 
his temper at the same time.) 

Mr. O'Puff resumed by informing the audience that he 
was a bachelor himself, and, to use the language of that 
great creation of Dickens, Saiiy Gamp, "he was not 
likely." Yet, he must say that no man had a greater re- 
gard for the fair sex than he ; but his single-blessedness 
was owing to the difficulty he had in making a choice, for 
invidious distinctions were a thing that he despised. He 
had never yet responded to a toast npon " woman," that 
he had not felt in his heart of hearts that the subject was 
too much for him. This, however, he must say was a fail- 
ing of the O'Puff family, for woman was a subject to which 
he could never do justice. He regretted greatly that he 
could not agree with the women of the South, and it was 
a sad thing for him to reflect that they were not in favor 
of union — to a man. He would say, however, that if the 
Northern women came out a little stronger in fivor of the 
Administration, that there would be more Northern men 
in the field. 

A Voice : Why ain't you in the field ? 

Because, said Mr. O'Puff — 

(Great confusion. • Cries of, " Toss him out I traitor ! 
secesh !") 

Mr. O'Puff resuming : Gentlemen, let me answer that 
man. (Loud cries of, *' Go in, O'Puff! Give it to him !") 
That individual wants to know why I am not in the 
field. Let me tell him that the reason I am not in the 
field is because I am here. (" Hurra, hurra, hurra ! 
O'Puff forever.") 

Having effectually squelched this double dyed traitor, 
the learned gentleman resumed his seat amid vociferous 
cheers, in the midst of which his cousin-german, Coun- 
selor Van Gabble, came over and shook him most affec- 
tionately by the hand. Whereupon the cheers broke out 
afresh, and one gentleman on tlie stage clapped his hands 
BO energetically as to destroy a new pair of kid gloves 
which he had that morning bought on credit. Another 
individual was so overcome by his enthusiasm that he 



^8 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

pounded a new table, which the proprietor of Peddlers' 
Hall had purchased the day before, in such a violent man- 
ner as to arouse the fears of the owner in regard to its 
safety. The aforesaid proprietor mildly informed him that 
that very necessary article of domestic furniture had cost 
him the sum of five dollars, and he further informed him 
that five dollars were not to be had every day. After 
furnishing this interesting piece of intelligence, he retired 
with the most amiable expression of countenance. 

Mr. Mudley Hill followed the last-named speaker, and 
succeeded in impressing uj^on his audience that he was in 
favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war. Our rej^orter 
would have taken full notes of his remarks were it not for 
the annoyance to which he was subjected by two small 
boys in his vicinity, one of whom would insist in sticking 
pins into the other, under the threat that" he would punch 
him in the head if he would not submit to this innocent 
and pleasant little means of torture. A red-nosed gentle- 
man sitting near became seriously perturbed the moment 
he heard the sound of punchy and mentally resolved that 
as soon as the meeting was over he would pay the first 
liquor-dealer he met on his way home to give him 2, punch 
in the mouth. 

According to the programme, as prepared by a com- 
mittee of contractors, resolutions of a most patriotic char- 
acter were read by a large gentleman with a weak voice, 
who was frequently interrupted by demands of the most 
unreasonable nature. He was invited to " speak louder," 
to " raise his voice," to " go it stronger," and to " talk 
up," all of which invitations, for reasons sufficient to him- 
self, he was obliged to decline. However, our indefati- 
gable corps of reporters succeeded in getting a copy from 
the gentleman on condition that they would print his 
name ; but we are exceedingly mortified at not being able 
to perform our part of the contract, in consequence of the 
treacherous memory of the aforesaid corps of reporters. 
But here are the resolutions, and they will speak for 
themselves : 

Whereas, This war has been waged for two years without any pros- 
pect of conquering the South ; and 

Whereas, Armies numbering in the aggregate fifteen hundred thou- 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 49 

sand men, and money to the amount of nearly fifteen hundred mill- 
ions of dollars have been freely given by the people ; and 

Whereas, What the people did before, they will most probably do 
again ; and 

Whereas, It is essential to the policy of the Administration that the 
Constitution should not be allowed to hamper its movements, and that 
the liberty of the citizen should be held in abeyance ; and 

Whereas, The war is a very profitable speculation to contractors and 
officeholders generally ; and 

Whereas, The doctrine of State Rights is an exploded humbug, and 
Constitutional rights tolerably good things for the age of the Revolu 
tion, but particularly inappropriate to the present times ; and 

Whereas, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison 
were all very well for their time but not for our time ; and 

Whereas, We find this war pays splendidly, and is likely to pay as long 
as it lasts ; and 

Whereas, A minority President should not regard the will of the 
majority when it coniiicts with administrative patriotism ; and 

Whereas, We have no objection to pay any amount of taxes so long as 
it comes out of the pockets of the laboring classes ; and 

Whereas, There is a certain class of people in our midst who are oppos- 
ed to the war for the foolish reason that it can not restore the Union ; and 

Whe7-eas, AVe are bound to support the Administration through thick 
and thin, against the Constitution, against State Rights, against ha- 
beas corpus, against the liberty of the press, against the conservative 
majority of the people, and against popular freedom ; therefore, 

Resolved, That this war be continued as long as there is a dollar to 
be made by contractors and railroad corporations, which do the carry- 
ing business of the West formerly done on the Mississippi, and that all 
who are opposed to its vigorous prosecution are traitors, who should 
be hung on the first lamp-post. 

Resolved, That the conduct of so-called citizens of these United 
States, in talking of such nonsense as fraternity of feeling with the 
South, brotherly love, or any such stuff as that, should be judged 
guilty of disloyalty and high treason, and be forthwith sent to Fort 
Lafayette, or any of the numerous bastiles throughout the country. 

Resolved, That we, the people of New York, now assembled in Ped- 
dlers' Hall, hereby figuratively and metaphorically pledge our for- 
tunes, and also pledge so much as we have left of our influence and 
honor, to support the Administration in its vigorous and determined 
efiorts to do something, and especially in its vigorous prosecution of the 
war and Northern citizens. 

Resolved, That every man injtlie army and navy of the United States 
must be re-sworn to the support of the Constitution if he should grum- 
ble about not receiving his pay. 

Resolved, That as the great Lord Castlereagh, so well known to Irish- 
men, thanked Heaven that he had a country to sell, so we also return 
thanks that we have a Constitution to violate. 

Resolved, That every citizen owes allegiance to Abraham Lincoln, 
President of the United States ; and he who denies his authority to do 
what he pleases, should suffer the penalty due to his crime. 

3 



50 



ARTICLES FROM THE 



Resolved, That the man whose terai of service is about to expire 
should be compelled to remain until they receive their pay. 

Resolved, That this meeting, having a firm reliance on the Pres- 
ident and his Secretary of War, hereby resolves itself into a Loyal 
League of Spouters and Mutual Puffing Society, pledged to an indefinite 
prolongation of the war, and to the prosecution of all who insist that 
this Union can be preserved by any other means than the sword and 
the unlimited issue of greenbacks. 

These resolutions were received with the most un- 
bounded applause and unanimously adopted, with the ex- 
ception of four or five obstreperous individuals who would 
persist, like the President of the United States, in op- 
posing the will of the majority. The vocal band of the 
Loyal League of Spouters and Mutual Puffing Society 
here came forward to the front of the stage, and, silence 
having been restored, sang the following beautiful and 
highly expressive song : 

SONG OF TEGE LOYAL LEAGUERS.. 

AiB — " TJie Wedding of Ballyporeen.^^ 

What nonsense to prate about Freedom and Right ; 
He has freedom enough who has freedom to fight ; 
So, shoulder your muskets and muzzle your clack. 
And a war-charger make of each old party hack. 

Then, hurrah for strong, vigorous measures ! 

Hurrah for strong, vigorous measures ! 

Hurrah for strong, vigorous measures ! 

Some good, healthy hanging for me ! 

Down, down with the traitors who clamor for peace ; 
Make war upon them and our troubles will cease ; 
Or give them an office and peace they'll forego, 
For no placemen are peacemen, I'd have you to know ; 

For they go for strong, vigorous measures ! 

They go for strong, vigorous measures ! 

They go for strong, vigorous measures ! 

No peacemen or traitors are they. 

Our Government's strong and our Government's wise, 
And, mark me ! 'twill soon take the world by surprise ; 
For I've telegrams got, and this way they run : 
*' Look out ! something somewhere will shortly be. done !" 

Then, hurrah for strong, vigorous measures ! 

Hurrah for strong, vigorous measures ! 

Hurrah for strong, vigorous measures ! 

Some healthy blood-letting for me ! 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 



51 



At the chorus the whole meeting joined in, and it was 
mutually resolved that the author of the song should get 
a place in the Custom-House. When the feelings which 
had been aroused by this truly patriotic eflfusion of the 
muse were calmed, the Honorable Codnselor Van Gabble 
arose and confronted the audience. He said he was a 
Loyal Leaguer, for loyalty to him had a pleasant sound 
ever since that happy and festive evening when he tripped 
on the light fantastic toe with the present incumbent of 
the English throne. 

In every sense of the word, then, he was a loyal man. 
(Cries of " Louder !") Mr. Van Gabble : If I am alloined 
to proceed, my voice will get louder. I know the full 
compass of my voice, and I know it will reach every part 
and corner of this building. But before I proceed fur- 
ther, let me inform you that I am a friend of General 
Scott, and have dined at the same club-table with him, and 
if you should have any doubts of this I will send his next 
letter to me for publication in the Daily Abolition Stick. 
I approve of everything my friend Mr. O'Puff has uttered, 
and as you have doubtless observed, I have made sug- 
gestions to the different speakers in the course of their re- 
marks — suggestions of a highly patriotic and loyal nature. 
(Tremendous cheering.) I want you to stand by the Pres- 
ident in everything ; for, although he has issued his Eman- 
cipation Proclamation, take my word for it, he is not an 
abolitionist. In the language of the race-course, let me 
inform you that he is a cross of Kentucky upon IlUnois. 
(Applause.) The only question in my judgment worth 
considering is, how are we to carry on the war ? and this 
is a question of serious moment, for this is a war not only 
against the South, but against the Constitution. (Cheers, 
and cries of " That's it.") I t^ld you some'months ago that 
I was in favor of liberty of speech — and now I am in favor 
of liberty of speech for all who support the Administra- 
tion. I am in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war ; 
I am in favor of capturing Vicksburg, and if it don't stay 
captured, I am in favor of capturing it till it does. I 
know that the Administration has published dispatches 
driving them out of that fortification, but they wouldn't 
stay out, and I trust that they will be dispatched at last. 



52 ARTICLES FROM THE 

I am down on peace, and opposed to everybody that is in 
favor of peace. 

A Voice : Hotv about the " Wayward Sisters ?" (Great 
laughter.) 

Let me answer that man. I have thought better of 
that, and I am determined that the Sisters shall do a little 
more fighting. I was opposed to the last two proclama- 
tions of the President ; but as he issued them before I had 
a chance to oppose them, I must say that I am decidedly 
in favor of them now. I can pick out any number of flaws 
in the Conscription Law, but I am in favor of every line 
of it. I don't object to the suspension of the writ of ha- 
beas corpus ; and although it was not suspended in the 
war of the Revolution nor in the war of 1812, yet both 
those wars were successful. So far as the President's 
proclamation is concerned, I see nothing wrong in it. It 
is a very good proclamation, and every way Avorthy of the 
author of that sublime saying, " It is easier to do nothing 
than it is to do something." 

Here the President whispered something in the speak- 
er's ear. 

Mr. Van Gabble : It has been suggested to me by our 
worthy President that such papers as the Metropolitan 
Pecord, or any other journal that is in favor of such trea- 
son as the liberty of speech, should be immediately sup- 
pressed, and its editor sent to Fort Lafayette. (Great 
applause, and cries of, *' Give it to him. Van Gabble." 
" Hit him again.") It is gratifying to know that Russia 
is fivor able tons. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, we can not be 
too thankful to that nation. Let us trust that the Empe- 
ror will put down the Poles as we are trying to do with 
the South, and . that when he gets them down he'll keep 
them down. In this re.speat there is a common bond of 
S3aTipathy between us, for if he is opposed to the liberty 
of the people, so are we. (Cheers.) We are getting 
nearer to his style of government every day, and it will 
not be the fault of our worthy President and his statesman- 
like cabinet if we do not succeed in finally establishing 
among ourseb es the principles of absolutism. Now, gen- 
tlemen, I have been accused of being on every side of the 
question, but let me teU you that it is only by getting on 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 



63 



every side of it that you can tell exactly how it looks. I 
have now taken my last stand until the next time^ and I 
shall never disgrace the great name I have inherited from 
my worthy paternal progenitor. I shall now conclude, 
gentlemen, and sJiould I receive any more letters, you may 
depend upon their publication in the Daily Abolition Stick. 
The learned gentleman here took his seat amid the most 
uproarious enthusiasm. 

At this stage of the proceedings considerable commo- 
tion was visible on the stage in consequence of the appear- 
ance of a committee of gentlemen in favor of a vigorous 
prosecution of the war. The Chairman desired to address 
a few words to the meeting, which permission was gen- 
erously granted by the President. He then came forward 
and spoke as follows : 

Gentlemen of the Loyal League of Spouters and Mutual 
Pu%ig Society — In conne-ction with the gentlemen who 
have accompanied me, I have been deputed by a number 
of the loyal citizens of this metropolis to make a proposi- 
tion to this meeting which, I have no doubt, will prove 
highly acceptable. (Cries of, "Hear him — hear him !") 

Gentlemen, this is a large meeting ; there must at least 
be three thousand persons present. 

A Voice : More than that. 

Well, gentlemen, are you all in favor of a vigorous 
prosecution of the war ? (Loud cries of, " We are — we 
•are.") Will you go for the President right or wrong ? 
(Loud cries of, " We will — we will.") That, gentlemen, 
is what I call true patriotism. (Cheers.) Now, then, gen- 
tlemen, I am commissioned to say, that as you are in lavor of 
a vigorous prosecution of the war, and of sustaining the Pres- 
ident right or wrong, the patriotic gentlemen by whom we 
are commissioned have pledged themselves to provide every 
man of you with a uniform and a musket, and to pay your 
expensed all the way down to the army of the Potomac. 

Great consternation was caused by this announcement 
among the audience, in the midst of which a large portion 
of it, finding the place inconveniently warm, succeeded in 
getting into the fresh air with extraordinary rapidity. 
Mr. Van Gabble, Mr. O'Puff, Mr. Mudley Hill, and sev- 
eral other prominent supporters of the Government, with 



fy ARTICLES FEOM THE 

astonishing unanimity sprang to their feet and moved for 
an immediate adjournment, which the President put to the 
meeting without further delay; and having taken the ayes, 
conduded, without regard to the nays, that the meeting 
was adjourned. 

Thus ended the great mass meeting at Peddlers' Hall, 
Bunkum Square ; and thus may all who are in favor of a 
vigorous prosecution of the war escape the designs of 
deep-dyed traitors, who imagine that a man can not sus- 
tain the Administration as well in the Post-Office or Cus- 
tom-House as on the field of battle. None but a secesh 
can understand that if an anaconda is necessary to squeeze 
the life out of the South, it is not equally necessary that 
the life of the North should be squeezed out by boa-con- 

TKACTOES. 

[Note by Eeporter. — It is only a tribute to true merit and patriot- 
ism to state that the conduct of Counselors O'PufF and Van Gamble is 
beyond all praise, particularly when it is known that to serve the Ad- 
ministration they have not hesitated to forego all prospects of po- 
litical promotion hereafter.] 



SOME PLAIN TALK. 

(From the IMetropolitan Kecord of April 18, 18G3.) 

It is now two years since the war commenced, and we 
are to-day further than ever from the attainment of the 
object which the Administration is said to have in view — 
the restoration of the Union. Armies, numbering in the 
aggregate fourteen or fifteen hundred thousand men, and 
money to the amount of about fifteen hundred millions of 
dollars, have been' placed at the disposal of the President ; 
and yet, with all our boasted superiority in population and 
material resources, we have less chance to-day of reducing 
the South to submission than we had when the first gun 
was fired at Fort Sumter. 

We ask any candid man if this is not a fair, though brief 
statement of the relative positions occupied at present by 
the North and the South ? Still we are told, " this war 
must go on ; we are in for it now, and we can not, if we 
would, make peace short of national disgrace and humilia- 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 65 

tion." " What !" says an enthusiastic Loyal Leaguer, 
" shall we submit to Jeff D-avis ? Shall we sue to the 
rebel South for peace ? No, sir ; this war must go on, 
even if Ave were to shed the last drop of our blood and 
spend our last dollar." Now, let us remark that the man 
who talks in this inflated strain is the very last to think 
of shedding the first drop of his own blood, or to spend 
the first dollar of his own money, unless, indeed, he be 
compelled to do so by the unlucky chances of the conscrip- 
tion lottery. In fact, we are inclined to think that if he 
could save the expense through the favoritism of the War 
Department, he would be most happy to place himself 
upon the list of exempts. 

So much, then, for the sincerity of those who clamor for 
the continuance of this melancholy, this fratricidal war — a 
war, not for the restoration of the country, but for the 
continued power and domination of a faction. But how is 
it with the great body of the people ? Are they still in 
favor of a perpetuation of a conflict which threatens the 
establishment of a permanent military despotism, and 
which is ah-eady pressing with terrible weight upon the 
laboring classes of the country ? We sincerely believe 
that they are not, and that if they were presented with 
the opportunity of giving their decision, it would be in 
favor of an armistice with a view to a peaceful settlement 
of the armed controversy now waging between the two 
sections. We beheve, moreover, that they have lost all 
confidence in the Administration, and that the last hope 
of a restoration of the Union through war has departed 
from the great popular heart. 

It is true that the so-called leaders of the people are op- 
posed to the suspension of hostilities ; but let us ask, do 
they really speak for the people ? Have they been com- 
missioned as their mouthpieces to give expression to such 
views ? For our own part we must say, that they do not 
express the feelings of the great majority of the Northern 
masses in regard to the prolongation of the war. Many 
of them have not the manliness nor the courage to say 
what they really believe, that the longer continuance of 
this war will render the restoration of the Union here- 
after an impossibility, This is no time for mincing tho 



56' ARTICLES FROM THE 

matter. We have had enough of temporizing and polit- 
ical hypocrisy, and it is full time to look the question 
squarely in the face without flinching, no matter what the 
timid or nervous may say. 

This is no longer war. It is slaughter ; it is rapine, and 
the acts that have come to light lately show a vandalism 
that reflects the deepest disgrace on a nation which pro- 
fesses to he Christian. We have had enough of expe- 
diency, enough of time-serving, enough of hypocritical 
professions of loyalty, and we must at last deal with the 
hard facts of the case. In the first jDlace, the past two 
years should satisfy us of two things — that the military 
subjugation of the South *s an impossibility ; and in the 
second, that the present disunion Administration can not 
restore the Union. These are the two leading facts pre- 
sented by a consideration of the case ; but there are some 
others which we propose to review before dismissing the 
subject for the present, and we shall submit them in the 
following brief, but, we trust, sufficiently comprehensive 
and intelligible manner. 

The people of the South are at the present time more 
hostile to the old Union than they were two years, or even 
one year ago. This result has been brought about by the 
Abolition and sectional policy of the Administration. 

The restoration of" the Union by war was a departure 
from the well-known policy of conciliation and compro- 
mise, and was calculated to render division permanent. 

The invasion of the South was the maddest project eter 
devised by .men professing to be statesmen, inevitably 
leading, as it has done, to the consolidation of the South- 
ern States into a unit for the purpose of determined and 
aggressive resistance. 

The people of the North have lost all trust and confi- 
dence in the Administration — a fact which is attributable 
to its unconstitutional course and its utter incompetency. 

The upopuiarity of an unjust, a one-sided, and oppress- 
ive Conscription Act which discriminates between the rich 
and the poor, in favor of the former and against the 
latter. 

' The repulse sustained at Fredericksburg, at Port Hud- 
son, at Vicksburg, Charleston, and other places. 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 57 

The mad' and wicked policy of supposing that Ameri- 
cans could conquer Americans, or that the freemen of the 
South could be subdued by an Abolition faction, or ^vould 
ever submit to an Administration which set at defiance nU. 
constitutional restraints, and obstinately refused to oifer 
any terms of conciliation or compromise. 

The Confiscation Act, which placed the property of our 
Southern fellow-citizens at the disposal of courts which 
had no constitutional existence, and at the mercy of such 
men as he w^ho brought disgrace npon the national char- 
acter and a stain npon the national flag by his inhuman 
course as military governor of JSTew' Orleans. 

The burning of cities, the wanton destruction of private 
property, as in the case of Jacksonville. 

The emancipation of slaves, and the overthrow of State 
limits. 

In these facts are to be found some of the prominent 
causes which are daily widening the chasm between the 
Korth and the South, and which will render union, even 
in the far-distant future, almost an impossibility. 

Now, we say, in consideration of all these facts, the 
feelings of the people should not be disguised. If their 
so-called leaders are prevented by expediency, or by polit- 
ical hypocrisy, from a fixir and candid exposition of their 
views and opinions, and if the Administration should be 
deceived (w^hich we think is not at all probable) by them 
as to the real sentiments of the masses, they may be made 
aware of it by the most terrific popular revolution that 
ever convulsed a country. Let us not be misunderstood in 
this matter. We deprecate anything like an armed up- 
rising of the people so long as they are left the freedom 
of discussion in public meetings, and the right of deciding 
on public questions through the ballot-box. But have we 
not been made painfully aw^are already that even the 
ballot-box is not sacred from the invasion and encroach- 
ments of the faction in power ? It is but a few days since 
the democratic voters in Indianapolis were driven from 
the poUs by soldiers who it is said w^ere sent there for that 
very purpose ; while in Connecticut it is insisted that the 
volunteers of the Union army, whose political principles 
were previouslv subjected to a test, were employed by the 

3* 



58 AETICLES FEOM THE 

Administration in voting down a political opponent whoso 
peace principles had rendered him obnoxious to the war 
party. 

Well may we fear for social order in the Northern 
States. Well may the voice of warning be raised against 
a policy that, if persisted in, will, it is justly feared, bring 
civil war and anarchy into the North. If we would avert 
such a calamity, we must have peace — hot a humiliating 
peace, but a peace between two belUgerent powers, who, 
after having tried in vain to end the controversy by the 
sword, might justly resort to an armistice as a much more 
reasonable course of settling the question. To this wo 
must come at last. The sword will never solve the diffi- 
culty. Let us then have peace. Surely the faction that 
rules at Washington has had enough of blood-letting. 
Surely the pohtical cormorants have had enough of public 
plunder. 

The prolongation of this war will inevitably lead to 
despotism. Which do we prefer — to let the South go, or 
to lose our own liberties in an attempt to force it un- 
willingly into a union with us; and when to keep it in 
such a imion Ave would require an army of occupation in 
every Southern State numbering at least a million of men ? 
For our own part we must say that we prefer liberty to 
Union on such terms, and if that be treason, make the 
most of it. 



"NOBODY'S HURT." 

{From the Metropoltan EECOiiD,^j?nZ 18, 1863.) 

Two years ago the United States were at the summit 
of earthly prosperity. Kingdoms gray with centuries 
sought its alliance ; nations whose record was the history 
of civilization gazfed with wonder on the new star that 
appeared in the political firmament ; the oppressor looked 
to it with wondering dread, and the oppressed with yearn- 
ing love and reverence. In every tongue it was a syno- 
nym for freedom, and its example fired the heart and 
nerved the arm of struggling patriots in every land. 



\ 



METEOPOLITAN KEOOED. 59 

America ! the very name suggested images of smiling 
peace and plenty — a land flowing with milk and honey — 
a people prosperous and contented — honored abroad and 
happy at home. No citizen of Rome, in Rome's palmiest 
days, bore a prouder title than he who hailed from the 
Republic of the West. Then an American citizen meant 
a freeman^— one who owned no lord, " saving the Lord on 
high," who held his rights at the option of no petty des- 
pot, Avho owed allegiance only to his country and fealty 
only to his God. From Maine to Texas, from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific seaboard, resounded the hum of thriving 
industry, for peace was within our borders, and we were 
at peace with the world without. Two short years ago 
we might have defied the world in arms ; now we tremble 
at the thought of intervention. Two short years ago the 
complications in European politics were of no account to 
us, save when our sympathies were aroused by the gallant 
struggle of some oppressed nationality ; now, we look to 
these uprisings as a providential diversion in our favor, 
and calculate the eflect they will have on the duration and 
ultimate result of our war of the sections. Why is this ? 
and why is there sorrow in our dwellings and wailing 
throughout the land ? " JVbbodt/^s hurtP 

" Nobody's hurt !" Yet, on the plains and in the val- 
leys of Virginia fell thousands upon thousands of Ameri- 
can citizens, whose death left a gap in many a fireside 
circle, an aching void in many a desolate heart, who died 
without religious consolation or medical aid — without the 
soothing ministrations of friends or the loving care of kin- 
dred — amid the horrors of battle, with the sound of car- 
nage, or the rush of charging squadrons, or the groans 
of wounded comrades in their ears, with the earth for a 
pillow and the wind for a requiem. 

"Nobody's hurt!" Yet, from the waters of the ]VIis- 
sissippi, from the harbor of Charleston, and from the 
waves of the ocean and the Gulf comes up a gurghng cry, 
heard faintly and at intervals amid the iron storm that 
lashes the waters into frenzy, and this cry gives the lie 
direct to the axiomatized untruth. 

" Nobody's hurt !" Yet, every day our forces dwindle 
and our Army of the Dead increases ; for Death has is- 



60 ARTICLES FROM THE 

sued a Gonscription Bill^ and he draios his quota chiefly 
fro')n our great 'military centers. 

" Nob-ody's hurt !" Yet, there is grief in wooden 
shanties and brown-stone mansions, in town and country, 
at home and abroad. Our troubles have paralyzed the 
manufactures of England, they have discouraged the com- 
mcice of France, they have violently changed the course 
of European emigration. But what of that ? " Nobody's 
hurt !" North and South are bleeding at every pore ; the 
hfe-blood of the nation is oozing out drop by drop, im- 
mense tracts are laid waste, fertile districts are depopu- 
lated, the national prestige is lost, the national wealth dissi- 
pated, the national credit destroyed, the national honor tar- 
nished, but — nobody'' s hurt. That glorious anti-climax reas- 
sures us, "Nobody's hurt !" Hark, how the echoing chorus 
swells from Manassas and Fredericksburg, from Shiloh and 
Antietam, from Vicksburg and New Orleans, from the Po- 
tomac and the Mississippi. " NOBODY^S HURT ! !" 

Tell it to that miserable woman, with her helpless, 
starving family ; tell it to those orphans thrown upon the 
cold charity of an unfeeling world, or to that old man 
trembling on the brink of the grave, or to those troops of 
maimed and wounded soldiers who are thrown back upon 
their State like so much damaged goods — tell them, if you 
dare, that " nobody's hurt." Tha't woman's husband went 
down in the ill-fated Cumberland ; those children's father 
fell at Edward's Ferry ; that old man's sole support was 
trampled under the hoofs of Stuart's cavalry; that wounded 
soldier lost his arm where many a gallant comrade lost his 
life, on the banks of the bloody Rappahannock. Tell them 
" nobody's hurt." 

And when you have had the moral hardihood to do 
that, then turn to the Administration, every member of 
which, from the President down to the lowest officer, has 
lost character and reputation, the respect of the civilized 
world, and the regard of their fellow-citizens ; lost not 
only political capital, but political life; and tell them 
" nobody's hurt." It is probable they could understand 
the force of the saying better to-day than two short years 
ago. Then they were starting on their four-years' cruise, 
elate and sanguine ; now they lie stranded on the break- 



IkEETROPOLITAN RECOED. 61 

ers, the good ship Constitution battered on all sides, the 
crew fearfully diminished, the supplies gone, the reckoning 
lost. Now ring in their ears the mocking cry with which 
they started — " JSTobody's hurt." 



PEACE ! 

{From the Metropolitan Record, April 25, 1863.) 

The country is sick of this aimless, brutal slaughter, and 
yearns for peace. From every desolate homestead, where 
widowed mothers and fatherless children dwell in the des- 
titution of uncared-for, unthought-of penury ; from every 
battle-field in whose festering trenches lie the tens of thou- 
sands drawn from the peaceful army of labor by the C07i- 
scription of death ; from an over-taxed, despot-ridden 
population ; from the ranks of industry, for which the 
Conscript Act was exclusively designed ; from the pros- 
trate commerce of our Atlantic sea-board, and the profit- 
less agriculture of the teeming West, arises the imperative 
demand for peace. The people are now aware that the 
war can never restore the Union ; that they have been 
cruelly deceived ; that the men whom they raised to the 
highest official positions have abused the confidence re- 
posed in them ; that their money is squandered to swell 
the wealth of political harpies ; that the brave men who 
went forth to fight for the Union have been sacrificed to 
the fell spirit of Abolitionism ; and that after a two years' 
war we are no nearer the restoration of the Union than we 
were at its commencement. It is, we believe, no exagge- 
ration to say that nearly half a million of men have been 
killed outright upon the battle-field, have died of their 
wounds, and of diseases incident to camp fife, or have been 
flung, maimed for life, dependents on their friends or the 
benevolence of the public. All this they know ; and they 
know, moreover, from the painful experience of the past, 
that the j^ame incompetency, the same imbecility, the same 
official corruption, the same fanaticism, the same disregard 
of popular opinion, the same reckless expenditure of blood 



62 AKTICLES mOM THE 

and money, the same heartless indifference for their bleed- 
ing country, prevails at this moment among the authori- 
ties in Washington. From those they have nothing to 
hope, and they must, therefore, look to themselves for the 
remedy. They have learned, as their first political lesson, 
that this is a Government of the people ; that they are the 
source of all power, and that their officials are their ser- 
vants, bound by the most solemn obligations to do their 
will, as contained and expressed in the Constitution and 
laws of the land. Knowing this, and knowing also that 
the Constitution has been put aside, has been set at defi- 
ance, they should rouse themselves to meet the emergency ; 
they should assemble in rhass meetings all over the coun- 
try, until the j:>opular voice, increasing in volume as the 
great movement goes on, should reverberate in thunder 
tones throughout the land, so that even official deafness 
should hear, and hearken to the demand for peace. 

We know there are some who have grown supine and 
hopeless ; who say that the war can not be stayed ; that it 
will be carried on during the whole term of the present 
Administration. 

It is true that we have become reckless in the waste of 
human life, that we who shrank from the very idea of civil 
war have come to regard it as a matter of course, that it 
has become, as it w^ere, a fixed subject in our daily habits 
of thought, and it is also true that, if we don't take care, 
the new interests which have sprung up — which have in- 
creased, and which now depend upon the continuance of 
the war for their very existence — will render the re-estab- 
lishment of peace a work of serious difficulty. But, after 
all, there is a bright side to the subject. The election re- 
turns which reach us week by week- give unmistakable 
evidence in their conservative course of the change that is 
taking place in the public mind. Despite the efforts of 
Government officials, despite the intermeddling of the Ad- 
ministration with State elections, despite the operations 
and infiueuce of shoddy and other contractors who dis- 
charge the honest workman that dares to vote as his con- 
science dictates, despite the threats of a General-in-Chief 
who tells the peace men of the JsTorth that he will crush 
them out with military force — despite, we say, of all this, 



METKOPOLITAN RECORD. 63 

the people are resolved that they will be heard at the Cap- 
ital of the Nation, aiid that a war which is now carried on 
mainly for the benefit of political partisans and Abolition- 
ists must soon come to an end. No matter what desperate 
efforts may be made through official machinery to revive 
the war enthusiasm which two years ago swept over the 
land like a plague, no matter what scheming and chicanery 
may be re^rted to in the way of Loyal Leagues and so- 
called Union Meetings, the people have had enough of war, 
and are now thoroughly convinced that blood-letting is no 
panacea for the ills of the Nation. 

We tell the Administration that the game of war can not 
be played any longer ; that, like every other species of 
gambling, it requires capital, and that the great public 
credit upon which they have drawn so largely will shortly 
refuse to honor their drafts. The ingenious scheme of 
tliree-montlis-political promissory notes has been tried too 
often and has been found not to pay. In fact, the balance 
of interest is on the wrong side of the account. A de- 
pleted population, a bankrupted credit, an imbecile Ad- 
ministration, incompetent generals, a dissatisfied army, an 
over-taxed and discontented j^eople — all of these form ra- 
ther unreliable supports in the further prosecution of the 
war. We would, therefore, advise the President and his 
Cabinet seriously to reflect upon the circumstances in \^•hich 
they are placed, and to make up their mind before it is too 
late — before the failure of the Conscription Act — to take 
such preliminary measures as are necessary to bring about 
peace. There is no disguising the fact that the attempt to 
abolitionize the war has created a wide-spread feeling of 
discontent throughout the army, while Vicksburg, Port 
Hudson, and, lastly, the terrible disaster at Charleston, 
have satisfied the North that the men of 'the South have 
inherited from their revolutionary sires that unconquerable 
spirit, that indomitable w^ill that knows no yielding. 

Let us ask ourselves would we not fight to the last gasp 
against an invading army, and would not the sight of ruined 
homes, burning cities, and desecrated churches arouse in 
our breasts the same feelings which have thus far rendered, 
and which will continue to render, the military conquest 
of the South an impossibiUty. No man who possesses a 



^ 



64 ARTICLES FKOM THE 

heart can refuse his admiration to the spectacle of a gallant 
people engaged in a struggle for what they regard as the 
cause of national independence, and the right to live under 
that form of government which they are resolved to main- 
tain at every sacrifice. Seven or eight millions of a popu- 
lation successfully contending against a section of the con- 
tinent numbering at least twenty-two millions, is some- 
thing of a disproportion ; but then it must be/emembered 
that they are united, and that they are fighting against an 
Administration which had its origin in the spirit of dis- 
union. Let us at once admit that we can never conquer 
such a people, and accept the inevitable consequence which 
must follow from the admission — Peace. To this it will 
be objected that peace is recognition y' but that is not the 
view we take of it. We desire to have peace as the only 
'ineans left of develo2nng a Union se7itinient in the South. 
And here let us say that the invasion of that section of our 
country not only overwdielmed that element, but brought 
about a union of the whole South against the Union. Any 
policy leading to such a result should have been rejected 
by the Administration. Invasion of sovereign States, even 
under the provocation of the attack on Fort Sumter, should 
wever have been determined upon. The Southern leaders 
knew well that the appearance of an invading army upon 
the soil of the South would arouse a feeling of indignation 
that would unite their whole people against the Xorth. 
What, then, it may be asked, should have been the course 
of the President under the circumstances ? Recognizing 
the pecuHar character of our Government, and the fact 
that it is the representative of aggregate Sovereignties, 
his course should have been that of conciliation and com- 
promise. The idea of the dignity of the country being at 
stake, and having been insulted by an assault upon the na- 
tional flag, is nothing more or less than nonsense, and the 
time that has been made about it is simply political clap- 
trap. It was not insulted by a foreign power ; but v/e 
should never forget that we have been subjected to more 
humiliation and disgrace by the men at Washington, whom, 
unfortunately in an evil hour, w^e intrusted with the desti- 
nies of the Republic. If we are in search of insults, let 
us not look for them among our own countrymen of the 



METROPOLITAN KECOED. 65 

South, but ratlier amoug those who were the allies and 
basoiii friends of the Abolitionists, the British enemies of 
the llepubUc, who are now building privateers to prey 
upon our commerce, and who find in the fanatics who rule 
at the National Capital the strongest adherents of their 
" divide-and-ruin" policy. Insult ! Who could insult 
freemen more than those who have prostrated our blood- 
bought rights ? who fling scorn and contempt on the mar- 
tyred heroes of the Revolution by telling us that the Con- 
stitution which they gave their lives to establish is " a 
leage with Death and a covenant with Hell ?" Away, then, 
with this cant about insult, and our iSTational honor having 
been trampled in the dust. If the men of the North have 
been beaten again and again upon Southern battle-fields, it 
has been done by Americans and not by a foreign power, 
and let it be remembered that they have been beaten, too, 
while' fighting under an Abolition Administration. It is 
not because the men of the South are more brave than 
those of the North, but because of the difierence in the 
characters of the leaders of both sections. 

We know with what success this trick about the insult 
to our flag was practiced upon the too sensitive credulity 
of the North, leading it astray from tlie only wise and pol- 
itic course, which was that of patience and forbearance. 
We now say what we have always believed from the very 
beginning, that if the South had been appealed to by the 
memories of the Revolution to sustain the Union which 
had been formed by Northern and- Southern men, there 
would have been aroused such a feeling of love and devo- 
tion to it throughout the whole South as would have over- 
borne all op2)osition. 

But if the men at, Washington have proved false to the 
country and to their solenm pledges, we must at least do 
them the credit to say that they were true to their own in- 
stincts. Some of the very members of the present Ad- 
ministration were in favor of disunion. . They were not 
only in favor of disunion, but the present Secretary of 
State, in a speech which he delivered a few months previ- 
ous to the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, drew a glowing 
picture of the progress and destiny of the two Republics. 
The North was to extend its dominions to a point some- 



66 AKTICLES FROM THE 

where near the region of the IsTorth Pole ; while the South, 
in its progress of annexation, was to absorb Mexico, and, 
if we mistake not, its extreme southern boundary was to be 
only Hmited by the land of fire — the Terra del Fuego of 
the Western Hemisphere. We wonder if that is really 
the end that both he and the President have in view by 
the prosecution of this Abolition war. 

Stephen A. Douglas, in the great anti-war speech wliich 
he delivered in the United States Senate on the 15th of 
March, 1861, the last official act of his life, made use of 
the following language : 

War is disunion. War is final, eternal separation. * * * * j have 
too much respect for any man that has standing enough to he elected 
a Senator, to believe that he is for war, as a means for preserving the 
Union. I have too much respect for his intellect to believe, for one 
moment, that there is a man for war who is not a disunionist per se. Hence 
I do not mean, if I can prevent it, that the-enemies of the Union — men 
plotting to destroy it — shall drag this country into ivar under the pretext of protect- 
ing the public property, and enforcing the laws, and collecting revenue, when their 
object is disunion and war the means of accomplishing a cherished purpose. * * * 
Peace is the only policy that can save the country. Let peace be proclaimed 
as the policy, and you will find that a thrill of joy will animate the 
heart of every patriot in the land ; confidence will be restored ; busi- 
ness will be revived ; joy will gladden every heart ; bonfires will blaze 
upon the hill-tops and in the valleys, and the church bells will pro- 
claim the glad tidings in every city, town, and village in America, and 
the applause of a grateful people will greet you everywhere. Proclaim 
the policy of ivar, a?}d there will be gloom and sadness and despair pictured upon 
the face of every patriot in the land. A tear of kindred, family, and friends ; 
father against son, mother against daugliter, brother against brother, to subjugate 
one half of this country into obedience to the other half ; if you do not mean this, 
if you mean peace, let th>s be adopted, and give the President the opportunity, 
through the Secretary of War, to speak the word ' ' peace ;' ' and thirty million 
of .people ivill bless him with their prayers and honor him with their shouts of joy. 

But the late Mr: Douglas did not stand alone in his opin- 
ion with regard to the eflects and consequences of a civil 
war, for we find that exactly five days before he delivered 
this speech in the Senate, the present Secretary of State, 
William H. Seward — he, whose higher law and irrepressi- 
ble-conflict doctrines have aided in bringing such untold 
woes upon the country — he, the chief adviser of the Pres- 
ident — addressed a letter to Mr. Adams, United States 
Minister to England, from which we take the following 
extract : 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 6T 

For these reasons he (the President) could not be disposed to reject 
A CARDINAL DOGMA OF THEIRS (^the seccding States)— namely, that the 
Federal Government could not reduce the seceding States to obe- 
dience BY conquest, even ALTHOUGH HE WAS DISPOSED TO QUESTION THE 

PROPOSITION. BUT IN FACT THE • PRESIDENT WILLINGLY AC- 
CEPTS IT AS TRUE. ONLY AN IMPERIAL OR DESPOTIC GOV- 
ERNMENT COULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUBJUGATE DISAF- 
FECTED AND INSURRECTIONARY STATES. THIS FEDERAL 
REPUBLICAN SYSTEM OF OURS IS, OF ALL FORMS OF GOV- 
ERNMENT, THE VERY ONE WHICH IS MOST UNFITTED FOR 
SUCH A LABOR. 

Nqw, when it is understood that the letter from which 
we make this extract was written one day before the 
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT ^MTEE, it bccomes at once a mat- 
ter of surprise how the country was ever pUmged into the 
present disastrous and melancholy conflict. With a Secre- 
tary of State Avho insisted that the President " could not 
be disposed to reject a cardinal dogma of theirs (the seced- 
ing -States), that the Federal Government could not re- 
duce the seceding States to obedience by conquest" — with 
this admission from the chief official adviser of the Presi- 
dent, is it not extraordinary how we ever plunged, or were 
plunged, into this inhuman, this fratricidal war ? However, 
the Administration itself will have to answer one of these 
days to the. people for the manner in which it has' dis- 
charged its trust. 

For our own part, we have always regarded the Union 
as a Union of free-will^ and not of force^ and we never 
entertained any other thought but that the attempt to weld 
together its broken fragments with the sword Avould ren- 
der its restoration impossible. Nay, more, we never be- 
lieved, and we defy any one to prove to us^ either from tJie 
Constitution or from the writings of the great statesmen 
of the Revolution^ that there is any authority for bringing 
back by military force any seceding States. To be sure, there 
is a power inherent in the Government for the suppression of 
insurrection ; but as Alexander Hamilton said in the con- 
vention held in New York for the ratification of the Con- 
stitution of the United States : " It must be utterly repug- 
nant to this Constitution to subvert the State Governments 
or oppress the people. The coercion of States is one of 
the maddest projects that was ever devised. This being 
the case, can we suppose it wise to hazard a civil vvai* ? It 
would be a nation at war with itself." 



I 



(So ARTICLES T-'ROM THE 

This was the language of a man who loved his countiT'. 
Such a thing as coercion he regarded with abhorrence, for 
" it would be a nation at war with itself" What a fearful 
departure has taken place from the principles that governed 
the nation in his time ! We have indeed fallen on gloomy 
days. We have no statesman to whom the country can 
look in this its day of peril and disaster. 

But, courage ! Let us not forget the lessons of the past ; 
let us not ignore the political teachings of the men of the 
Kevolution ; and if Abolitionism has destroyed the old 
Union, let us resolve at least to live at peace on the same 
continent with the brave men of^he South whom we were 
once proud to call our fellow-citizens ; for between them 
and us, despite the memories of this melancholy war, there 
should be none but that fraternity of feehng which has its 
origin in a common ancestry, a common language, and a 
common destiny. 

The return of peace Avill bring with it the return of bet- 
ter feehngs, and even if we should not have the old Union 
restored, the natural instincts which bind even the lower 
order of animals together in defense against a conniion 
enemy, will in time bring about an alliance between the 
IS'orth and South against the intrigues and encroachments 
of foreign powers upon this continent, that will, let us 
trust, eventually lead to a more permanent Union than that 
which the Abolitionists have destroyed. 



MODEL RESOLUTIONS FOR THE LOYAL LEAGUERS. 

{From the Metkopolitan Kecord, April 25, 1863.) 

As these patriots are now manifesting their courage in 
behalf of the Union, not on the battle-held, but on the 
bloodless rostrum, they should receive all the assistance 
possible to enable' them to carry on their arduous labors. 
We have endeavored to give them some in preparing the 
following resolutions, which we humbly present for their 
acceptance, with the simple request that they be read at 
the next mass meeting held in the city of New York ; 



METEOPOLTTAN RECORD. 69 

Wheref;is, It is impossible to end this war in two years ■with the com- 
paratively insignificant force which we have had at different times of 
fifteen hundred thousand men and the fifteen hundred millions already 
spent ; and 

Whereas, There is a militia force of nearly four million of men in 
the free States yet to be sacrificed to Abolition designs and i)olicy ; and 

Whereas, If we can carry out the Conscription Bill without 'opposi- 
tion, we may finally succeed in establishing a military despotism ; and 

Whereas, Finding it impossible to subjugate the South, we must try 
how far we can succeed in our efforts to subjugate the North ; and 

Whe7-eas, Republicanism is played out, the people having shown a 
willingness to submit to every species of tyranny ; and 

Whereas, The soldiers got the better of tlie citizens in Connecticut, 
succeeded in driving them away from the polls in Indianapolis, and 
have destroyed several newspi}{)er oflices throughout the country ; and 

Whereas, If the principles of the Constitution are ever permitted to 
prevail, our future prospects are particularly gloomy ; and , 

Whereas, If the worst comes to the worst, we have made enough out 
of war speculations to live magnificently in foreign lands ; and 

Whereas, We don't care a straw for a union with slaveholders ; and 

Whe/eas, The irrepressible conflict and higher-law doctrines form the 
only political creed worth supporting ; and 

Whereas, We must play upon the feelings of the Irish people, and 
take advantage of their national animosity toward England by threat- 
ening a war with that country which we never intend to go into ; and 

Whereas, Consulting the interests of our faithful friends, the shoddy 
contractors, and the numerous other classes who are maldng money by 
this war, we must carry it on as long as we can ; and 

Whereas, We are determined to do all we can to prevent a reunion 
by burning down towns, sacking churches, inciting negroes to insur- 
rection, violating the most sacred guarantees of the Constitution, 
ignoring the memories of the past, confiscating the property of South- 
ern born men, threatening to overthroAV every right dear to American 
citizens, making slaves of those who have gloried in the proud title of 
freemen, forcing the negroes from the slavery of the South into the 
Northern atmosphere of social prejudice, driving the Western States 
into a position of antagonism with the Union, converting the forts 
built for the defense of the country into prisons for the incarceration 
of American citizens, making the Republic a mockery in the eyes of 
the world, flinging discredit on, and creating distrust in, the principle 
of self-government : therefore, 

Resolved, That we shall require the whole four millions of men who 
compose the militia of the Free States to be conscripted for the over- 
throw of slavery, and it may be " the twin evil of Popery," the sup- 
pression of the freedom of the Press, the establishment of military 
plantations in the South — when we conquer it — the subjugation of the 
North, ichen the proper time comes, the establishment of a monarchy on 
the ruins of the Republic, and the consolidation of the sovereign States 
after the overthrow cf State Rights. 

Resolved, That we must, by hook or by crook, carry out the Conscrip- 
tion, by either wheedling or bribing the Governors of those States who 



70 ARTICLES FROM THE 

are supposed to be opposed to it ; and to secure this end, that no money- 
shall be spared, no Constitutional rights regarded, and no conscientious 
scruples observed. * 

Resolved, That as the South can not be subdued by our policy, t he 
North must ; and that to save ourselves from the penalty which will 
KV.reJy fall upon us, if we don't succeed in this conspiracy against a 
free people, we must establish a permanent military despotism. 

Mei^olved, That as the people submitted with some degree of tame- 
n'ess to the invasion of their rights and privileges, by portions of the 
soldiery Avhom v.-e selected for the work, they will most probably yield 
upon the application of a due amount of force to the conversion of the 
Eepublic into a monarchy. 

Resolved, That as the hrst law of Nature is the law of self-preserva- 
tion, and as every one of the members of the Administration, and the 
ofl^ials who have acted as our tools, most probably will be seized as 
political criminals for having violated the rights of citizenship, we 
must prevent such a catastrophe by continuing to hold the power in 
our own hands. 

Resolved, That the " irrepressible conflict' ' shall continue between the 
Administration and the People, and that the " higher law" is our own 
will, from which there must be no appeal. 

Resolved, That we shall induce, by our usual duplicity and scheming, 
our Irish fellow-citizens to enlist, under the idea that we intend to have 
a war with England, and that when they shall have been victimized to 
Abolitionism, we shall refuse their orphans any assistance whatever, 
even a roof to shelter them from the winter's cold or the summer's 
heat ; and finally 

Resolved, That we shall never be satisfied till we spend all the money 
we have got, that we know no North, no South, no East, no West — 
nothing: but ourselves — that it is all nonsense to complain about sack- 
ing churches, burning down towns, or persuading negroes to massacre 
white people including women and children ; that we shall continue 
the same policy to the end ; that we will, if we can, let the army loose 
upon Northern cities and Northern homes ; that we shall create anarchy, 
if possible, the better, to secure the permanency of a military despotism, 
and that we shall leave no effort untried, no power with which we 
have been invested unemployed, no portion of the vast military and 
pecuniary means with which we have been intrusted unexpended, to 
break down that vital element of American liberty called State sover- 
eignty, and which is the only "lion in the path" to our absolute 
dominion. 

These resolutions we make over to the Loyal League 
for then- special use and benefit on the simple condition 
that they be read at their next mass meeting in the city of 
New York, and also that they be published in the so-called 
loyal papers of the country. 



METROPOLITAN EECOED. 71 



WHAT THE WAR IS CARRIED ON FOR. 

{From the Metropolitan Record, May 2, 1863.) 

For the furtherance of Abolition designs. 

For the permanent disruption of the Union, and the 
perpetuation of sectional hatred between the North and 
the South. 

For the special benefit of the shoddy aristocracy, army 
and navy contractors, and all that class that wax fat and 
wealthy as the country grows poor, and that count their 
gains by the prolongation of the war. 

For the establishment of a national debt equal to, if not 
greater than, that of England, and on which the people 
will have to pay a much heavier rate of interest. It may 
be parenthetically remarked that serious doubts are enter- 
tained whether this debt will ever be paid, as it is believed 
by some that the nation will eventually become bankrupt. 

For the particular advantage of the New England 
States, whose manufacturing profits multiply as the agri- 
cultural profits of the "West diminish. 

For the overthrow of the State sovereignty, and the 
consolidation and conversion of the Republic into a mili- 
tary empire. 

For the abrogation of constitutional rights and privi- 
leges, and for the final overthrow of liberty in the New 
World. 

For the criminal purpose of emancipating over three 
millions of slaves and placing them in a social condition, 
which experience has shown must lead to the eventual 
extinction of the colored population in some localities, and 
their reduction to a state of vagrancy in others. 

For the impoverishment of the laboring classes, and the 
final overthrow of universal suftrage by military force, of 
which we have already had a foretaste in the case of the 
late election at Indianapolis, when bands of soldiers drove 
the citizens from the polls. 

For the destruction of towns and villages and the pil- 
laging of sacred edifices, a la Jacksonville and Fernandina, 
Florida, and Winchester, Virginia. 



72 ARTICLES FROM THE 

For the degradation of the principle of self-government 
in the eyes of the world, and to render Republicanism a 
mockery and a scorn among monarchists. 

For the utter annihilation of the Constitution, which 
has been stigmatized as " a league with Death and a cove- 
nant with Hell." 

For the complete prostration of the country, so as to 
render it an easy prey to the diplomacy and intrigue of 
European statesmen. 

For the retention of dictatorial power in the hands of 
the present Government, under th^ plea of military neces- 
sity afforded by the prolongation of the war. 

To avert those penalties which the return of peace may 
be the means of inflicting upon all who have violated the 
great charter of American liberties. 

For the purpose of showing with what success the 
monarchical principle of coercion can be applied to inde- 
pendent and sovereign States, and that the easiest way to 
destroy the Federal Union, which was established hy the 
free consent of its constituent parts, is by the application 
■of military force. 

To prove to the world (what required no proof) that an 
Administration which had its origin in the spirit of dis- 
union can never restore the Union. 



A NEW JOKE.-IS IT THE PRESIDENT'S t 

{Frmn the Metropolitan Record, May 2, 1863.) 

Our readers are, of course, aware that the telegraph is 
under complete Government control, and nothing in the 
form of news can be sent by it without first passing under 
official inspection. Now it is also a fact thart this other- 
wise harmless means of communication has, since it passed 
into new hands, become considerably corrupted by evil 
communicaiio7is. Thus^ it was made to inform the public 
at various times that the North had gained a number of 
decisive victories, but it almost invariably turned out that 
victory in these cases was but another name for defeat. 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 73 

We are of the opinion that not only Mr. Lincohi's sub- 
ordinates have had to do with the telegraph, but that he 
has absolutely been manipulating the instrument himself; 
for we have noticed a sort of Presidential jocularity in 
some of the dispatches, the paternity of which can hardly 
be doubted. We know — the world knows — how the 
Chief Magistrate contrives to keep up his spirits in the 
midst of difficulties that would have overwhelmed the 
jocund nature of Mark Tapley himself — and we recollect 
a story that wms told of his having called upon one of the 
officers during a visit to the bloody field of Antietam to 
sing for him "Jim along Josey," or some other spirit- 
stirring negro melody. We are not certain whether the 
officer did this, but if he did not, it was not the fault of 
our lively and loquacious Executive. 

In olden times it was customary for the monarch to wile 
away his tedious hours by the droll antics and the witti- 
cisms of a court fool. The ever-flowing humor and inex- 
haustible fund of jokes possessed by the sixteenth magis- 
trate of the United States renders what was an indispensable 
adjunct to the court of olden times entirely unnecessary 
at the White House, for the principal occupant of the 
Presidential mansion is a sort of dual character, and so 
saves the Nation the expense of supporting a jester. 

But we are forgetting the telegraphic joke; and as our 
readers may be somewhat impatient to see it, here it is as 
it comes over the wires : 

The rebel pickets informed ours that they had a new general on 
their side who treats the army with great severity. On inquiring his 
name, they replied — General Starvation. 

What do our readers think of that ? If that is not in 
every way worthy of the last successor of Washington, 
we are no judge of a Presidential hit. 

Is there no publisher sufficiently enterprising to collect 
all the witticisms, all the puns, and all the anecdotes of 
the Executive, and give them to the world in an imperish- 
able form ? It strikes us that Barnum is just the man to 
undertake the task ; or the incumbent of the Presidential 
chair himself, when he gets through with the cares of 
Government, and descends to the ranks of private life, 
might profitably devote his leisure hours to the agreeable 

4 



T4 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

work. Such a book, issued under the title of Lincohiiana^ 
would, Ave have no doubt, have an immense run, almost as 
great a run as that made by the President himself into 
Washington some two years ago, under cover of a Scotch 
cap and military cloak. 



THE ABOLITION POLICY OF THE ADMINISRATION, 
AND WHAT IT HAS ACCOMPLISHED. 

{From the Metropolitan Eecord, May 2, 1863.) 

That Abolitionism has been the cause of the present 
condition of the country is a fact which we think no 
rational man will deny. There are many, however, who 
insist, in the very face of history itself, and in utter defi- 
ance of the most solemn and repeated asseverations of the 
greatest statesmen of the country, that to Slavery is 
attributable all the calamities with which the nation is 
now afflicted. There might be some ground for this 
assertion were the pecuUar institution a thing of recent 
origin — were it introduced into the country after, instead 
of before the Revolution. But when we find that the 
very men who framed the Declaration of Lidependence, 
and who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their 
sacred honor to the support and maintenance of American 
freedom, were themselves slaveholders, holding slaves to 
the hour of their death, and then, at that dread hour, 
transmitting their proprietary interest in them to their 
natural heirs — there is not even a shadow of foundation 
on which such an assertion could rest. It is clearly, then, 
a fabrication — an invention ; and upon this invention has, 
strange to say, been built up a party that has shaken the 
Republic to its very foundations, leaving to the world 
nothing but the melancholy ruins of its former greatness. 
While the Constitution guaranteed the peculiar institution 
against the assaults of this factious sectional party — while 
conservative Congresses passed laws which were consid- 
ered necessary to fortify, as it were, the provisions of the 
Constitution — this party, acting through its various cliques, 
either denounced that instrument as " a league with death 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 75 

and a covenant with hell," or sought its nullification 
through the advocacy and enforcement of the "irrepres- 
sible conflict" and " higher-law" doctrines. Urged on, in 
its mad, fanatical career, by a hatred as bitter against the 
people of the South as against Slavery, it omitted no 
opportunity through the press, the pulpit, the rostrum, 
and through the various influences of social life, to stig- 
matize our Southern fellow-countrymen as criminals botli 
in the eyes of God and man. It held them up to the 
odium of the civilized world as men who were unworthy 
of Christian fellowship. It violated the compact by which 
the States were held together by securing the passage of 
Personal Liberty Bills in the Legislatures of Northern 
States ; it organized " underground railroads" for the pur- 
pose of stealing away Southern property; it concocted 
the raid of John Brown and his fellow-murderers into the 
first State of the Union, the glorious old commonwealth 
of Virginia ; it leagued itself with the English enemies of 
the Republic, and accepted the ever-ready donations of 
British gold to strengthen the blows which it aimed at the 
life of the country. 

What cared the men of which this party is composed 
for the sacrifices that were made by the patriots of the 
Revolution to build up the Union ? what cared they for 
the freedom of white men so long as their perverted sym- 
pathy could find an object for its exercise in an inferior 
race? What cared they for the physical sufl*erings and 
destitution of thousands of their o'\\ii color at home and 
within easy reach, so long as the sable sons of xVfrica were 
to be elevated to a state of freedom for which they v*ere 
never designed by nature, and to which, Avith a rare excep- 
tion, they had no aspirations? What cared they for all 
this ? They were bent upon the overthrow of Slavery, 
although the warning voice of the great statesmen of the 
RepubHc was raised in deprecation of their fiendish de- 
signs. How fiir they have succeeded in their fell purpose 
let the Abolition Administration at Washington answer. 
But it is said that the President and his Cabinet do not 
repi-esent the extreme section of the AboHtion party ; that 
they are constitutional and law-abiding men; that their 
chief aim has been to administer the aflairs of the country 



76 ARTICLES FROM THE 

on a national, and not on a partisan or sectional basis. 
Now, we venture to say, and we shall sustain our state- 
ments with irrefragable testimony, that there is not a par- 
ticle of truth in any portion of this defense ; that it is false 
in its inception, false in its utterance, and false in every 
word and line — in a word, that it is as false to truth as the 
hearts in which it was conceived are false to the spirit of 
the Union. 

ISTo sooner was their candidate duly installed in the 
Presidential chair than he revealed his policy by the ap- 
pointment of Abolitionists as his Cabinet councilors. 
The first was his present Secretary of State, whose oppo- 
sition to Slavery was notorious, while acting as a Senator 
of the Union. In a sj^eech which he made in the Senate, 
March 11, 1850, Mr. Seward absolutelyv threatened the 
Southern States with civil war in the event of their con 
tinned opposition to emancipation. He said : 

"When this answer shall be given, it will appear that the question 
of dissolving the Union is a complex question ; that it embraces the 
fearful issue whether the Union shall stand, and Slavery, under the 
steady, peaceful action of moral, social, and political causes, be re- 
moved by gradual, voluntary efforts, and with compensation, or 
whether the Union shall be dissolved, and civil wars ensue, bring- 
ing ON VIOLENT BUT COMPLETE AND IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION. We are 

now arrived at that stage when that crisis can be foreseen, when we 
must foresee it. It is directly before us. Its shadow is upon us." 

So much for the Secretary of State, and let us add that 
we could fill column after column with proofs of as strong 
a character in regard to his Abolition tendencies and j^ol- 
icy. But we shall give another extract, and this we take 
from a speech delivered also in the Senate, but six years 
later, April 9th, 1856. On this occasion he made use of 
the following remarkable language : 

" The solemnity of the occasion draws over our heads that cloud of 
disunion which must always arise whenever the subject of Slavery is 
agitated. Still the debate goes on, more ardently, earnestly, and 
angrily than ever before. It employs now not merely logic, reproach, 
menace, retort, and defiance, but sabers, rifles, and cannon. * "* 
Then the Free States and Slave States of the Atlantic, divided and 
warring with each other, would disgust the Free States of the Pacific, 

and THEY WOULD have abundant cause and JUSTIFICATION FOR WITH- 
DRAWING FROM A UNION PRODUCTIVE NO LONGER OF PEACE, SAFETY, AND 

LIBERTY TO THEMSELVES, and DO longer holding up the cherished hopes 
of mankind." 



METKOPOLITAN EECOKD. 77 

Did ,it never occur to the present Secretary of State 
that he and his fellow- Abolitionists were giving to the 
South " abundant cause and justification for loithdraw- 
ing from a Union 2^^'oductive no longer of peace^ safety^ 
and liberty to themselves .^" 

It is unnecessary to furnish any evidence in regard to 
the Abolition character of the otlier members of the pres- 
ent Administration. Their course since their installment 
in office should, we think, set at rest whatever doubts 
might have been entertained on this point. If their views 
and opinions do not run altogether in harmonious accord, 
there is certainly a wonderful unanimity of action betv/een 
them. As for tlie President himself, it is but justice to 
him to say that he lias been wonderfully consistent in his 
efforts to give practical eifect to the folloAving remarkable 
expression of his political fliith in the future destiny of 
the Republic: "I BELIEVE THIS GOVERNMENT 
CAN NOT ENDURE PERMANENTLY HALF 
SLAVE AND HALF FREE." 

Impi-essed with this belief, he took a solemn oath to 
faithfully execute the duties of his office, and to preserve, 
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. 
Strange contradiction; although there are some who 
would call it by a harsher term, and who would perhaps 
insist that he has made use of the power intrusted to him 
to fulfill his assertion, that " this Government can not en- 
dure permanently half shive and half free." Without stop- 
ping at this point to argue the matter with those who 
entertain such a belief as to the designs of the Chief 
Magistrate, we propose to present a brief review of the 
principal acts of his Administration during the two years 
that have elapsed since his inauguration. In the first 
place, then, his selection of leading Abolitionists as his 
Cabinet councilors was, to our mind, a striking indication 
of the course which he intended to pursue. 

He has been in their hands from tlie very first, and he 
has been their instrument in the indorsement of every 
legislative act aimed by the last Congress at the perpetuity 
of the " peculiar institution." Not a single measure orig- 
inated with him, or received his encouragement, looking 
toward conciliation and compromise with the South. They 



78 ARTICLES FROM THE 

were offered no terms but those contained in a Constitution 
whose guarantees had been violated again and again, and 
whose obligations exercised no restraining force upon the 
very men who claimed to act under its authority. Then, 
too, with what indecent haste his fellow -Abohtionists in 
Congress passed the bill abolishing Slavery in the District of 
Columbia. A Congress which did not represent even two 
thirds of the Union ; and with what uncomplaining resig- 
nation he took up his Presidential pen, and, placing his sig- 
nature thereto, gave it all the form and character of a law. 

But the President did not stop here ; he must needs go 
further to add fuel to the flames that were fast enveloping 
the nation. He must insult and worry the Border Slave 
States that still remained in the Union, with propositions 
for compensated emancipation, and that, toO, before he 
ever consulted the wishes of the country on the subject, 
before he ever took means to ascertain whether the people 
of the free States were willing to be taxed to secure the 
freedom of a race which is unfitted by nature for its exer- 
cise in the same community with white men. ^ow came 
the Confiscation Bill, which was another blow aimed by 
the dominant Abolition faction against the constitutional 
securities that had been wisely thrown around the " pecu- 
liar institution" in a spirit of patriotic legislation. That 
bill was designed to deprive Southern men of their slave 
property, and was as unjustifiable and unconstitutional as 
the arbitrary acts of the Administration in suppressing 
freedom of speech and the liberty of the press, in the 
incarceration of Northern citizens, and in the conduct of 
authorized official burglars in the invasion of the home 
sanctuary, and the plunder, for the so-called use of the 
Government, of the letters and private documents of the 
free citizens of this RepubUc. 

The record of Administrative acts also tells us how the 
boundaries of a sovereign State were broken down, and 
how a new State was established therein, without regard 
to the sovereignty of the people, or an effort being made 
to get their concurrence in the act. We need hardly say, 
however, that the admission of Kanawha into the Union 
is a farce ; that it has no binding force, and that the out- 
rage perpetrated upon the Constitution, upon State sever- 



METROPOLITAN EECOED. 79 

eig»ntj, and upon popular rights, will one day recoil with 
fearful effect upon the heads of the men by whom the vile 
deed was perpetrated. 

But the crowning act of an Abolition des})()tism was 
that set forth in the Emancipation Proclamation, by which, 
with the stroke of a pen, the President attempted to de- 
stroy the j^roperty of a portion of the country, amounting 
to between two and three thousand millions of dollars. 
This was called a military measure, and it is reiuarkabl 
to what extent the military power has taken the place of 
the civil in this Republican government of ours. Over 
three milhons of slaves were, by this act, to be forced 
from the possession of their masters into a new condition 
of life, for which their previous habits and pursuits, as 
well as their own nature, disqualified them,. Over three 
millions of this class of beings wqre to be flung in a help- 
less state upon the country, having been previously divorced 
from the only state in which their labor could be made 
productive and of value to tens of millions of the superior 
race ah over the world. What, let us ask, has become of 
those who have been emancipated ? Have they not been 
supported at the expense of the Government, or rather at 
the expense of the people ? and wlien this Administration 
shall have passed out of office, who can prevent these 
emancipated negroes from lapsing into a state of vagrancy ? 
There are many other facts to which we could refer in 
proof of the Abolition course and policy of the authorities 
at Washington, but those we have given will, we think, 
sufiice for the present. And now, is any man so stupid or 
so wanting in common intelligence as not to see that it is 
impossible for such an Administration to restore the Union ? 
Does any man believe that the further prosecution of the 
war under such auspices, or, in fact, under any auspices, 
could bring back the South ? On the contrary, is it not 
evident that the restoration of the Union through such an 
agency is a hopeless prospect ? No Conscription Bill can 
over accomplish such a result. The thing has gone too 
far ; the Administration has lost its power, and Ave ven- 
ture to say that it is at the present time in a state of 
trepidation and nervousness that shows the weakness to 
which it has been reduced bv its own acts. At this mo- 



80 ARTICLES FROM THE 

ment the Governor of New York occupies a stronger posi- 
tion than that of the President of the United States. He 
can call out the militia of the Empire State — can the 
President of the United States do that without his per- 
mission ? He represents a majority of the citizens of this 
great State — what portion of the people, outside of the 
Abolition faction, and contractors and office-holders, does 
President Lincoln represent? Can he even say that he 
is now carrying on the war at the desire of a majority of 
the people ? Let the recent State elections answer. What, 
then, is this war carried on for ? Why are hundreds of 
thousands more called for? Has the human holocaust 
offered at the shrine of fanaticism not satisfied the Aboli- 
tion cry for " more blood," and must the conscription be 
enforced to add to the number of victims ? The country 
is weary and sick of this work of slaughter — -this aimless 
butchery of its people. It must come to an end some 
time, and that time should be now. We can not afford to 
have the industrial ranks of the country further decimated 
by this Abolition crusade, to have the great army of wid- 
ows and orphans still further increased by new accessions, 
to have the trade and commerce of the country depressed 
still more by war's paralyzing influence, and to have the 
great laboring classes ground down to the earth by exces- 
sive taxation. 



THE STATESMEN OF THE REVOLUTION ON THE 
RIGHT OF COERCION. 

{Frcm the Metropolitan Eecord, 3Iay 9, 1863.) 

We have all along contended that the Constitution cou' 
ferred no right or authority for the coercion of States, and 
we now insist that the great statesmen b}^ whom that in- 
strument was framed deprecated the employment of mili- 
tary force against refractory States. This great and im- 
portant fact has, however, been completely lost siglit of in 
the terrible controversy by which the country is at present 
convulsed. The people appear to have forgotten the les- 



METKOPOLITAN RECOKD. 81 

Bons of the Revolution ; they have been carried away by 
the material prosperity to which the country has attained, 
and in their pursuit of worldly gain have neglected the 
study of those principles which gave birth to the Union. 
Despite our common-school education, and the opporfini- 
ties afforded for the acquisition of knowledge by the vast 
multiplication of books of all kinds, we are, as a people, 
wofully ignorant of the Constitution, the circumstances 
mider which it was adopted, and the biographies of the 
great men with whom it originated. But for this igno- 
rance, for which there is no excuse, the Abolitionists would 
never have succeeded in destroying the Union ; and but 
for this ignorance, also, there could be no alienation of 
feeUng between the North and the South. It is, however, 
nrged that if all this could have been prevented by a bet- 
ter knowledge of constitutional jDrinciples, that it is now 
too late to discuss the question as to which of the two 
great sections of the country is right — the North or the 
South. We understand fully the spirit which would dispose 
of the matter in this way. It is that spirit which blindly in- 
sists upon a continuance in wrong-doing, even with a full 
acknowledgment of the offense. It is that obstinate per- 
sistence in error which has destroyed nations as well as 
individuals, and which can have but one, and that a fatal, 
termination. We shall never willingly yield an acquies- 
cence in the ruinous policy which springs from such a 
principle. We do not beheve in giving way to it in the 
first instance, or in the second instance, or in the last in- 
stance ; and we shall continue, therefore, to protest against 
it to the end. 

Let us, then, repeat that we find no authority either in 
the Constitution or in the writings of its authors for the 
employment of coercion in the case of a State seceding 
from the Union. On the contrary, whatever we find upon 
the subject in these writings is directly in conflict even 
with the assumption of such a right on the part of the 
General Government. There could not be anything 
clearer or more forcible than their statements on this 
point. How tlie authorities at Washington could have 
fallen into any error regarding the power with wliich they 
are invested is something extraordinary. The Secretai-y 



82 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

of State can not certainly lay claim to exemption in the 
matter, for, as we .proved in the Record of April 25, he 
expressed the belief that the United States GoA^ernment 
had no authority to coerce States which had arrayed 
themselves in opposition thereto. Writing to Mr. Adams 
almost on the eve of the attack on Fort Sumter, he said : 
* ' Only an imperial or despotic Government could have the right 

TO SUBJUGATE DISAFFECTED AND INSURRECTIONARY StATES. ThIS FEDERAL 

Republican system of ours is the very one which is most unfitted fob 

SUCH A labor." 

It is evident from this that the Secretary of State is 
fully conversant with the opinions of the Fathers of the 
Republic on this much-vexed but clearly defined question. 
We referred on a former occasion to the remarkably forci- 
ble manner in which Alexander Hamilton expressed him- 
self upon this vital matter, and we shall take tlie liberty 
of reproducing his language at this time. It will be re- 
membered that the occasion on which it was elicited was 
during a debate held in the liew York Convention for the 
ratification of the Constitution of the United States : 

" The coercion of States," said Hamilton, *'is one of the maddest 
projects that was ever devised, a failure of coiiPLiANCE will 

NEVER BE CONFINED TO A SINGLE StATE. ThiS BEIJv'G THE CASE, CAN WE 
SUPPOSE IT WISE TO HAZARD A CIVIL WAR ? It WOULD BE A NATION AT 
WAR WITH ITSELF. CaN ANY REASONABLE MAN BE WELL DISPOSED TOWARD 

a goveri^ment that makes war and carnage the only means of sup- 
porting itself — a government that can exist only by the sword ? 
Every such war must involve the innocent with the guilty. This 

SINGLE consideration SHOULD NOT BE INEFFICIENT TO DISPOSE EVERY 
peaceable CITIZEN AGAINST SUCH A GOVERNMENT." 

Such was the belief entertained and expressed by a 
statesman who certainly could not be accused of too strong 
a leaning toward political latitudinarianism. He shrank 
fi'om the very contemplation of coercion " as repugnant to 
the Constitution," " as one of the maddest projects that 
was ever devised," and added, that " as every such war 
must involve the innocent with the guilty, this siiigle. con- 
sider atio7i should dispose every peaceable citizen agairist 
such a government.''^ 

We now turn from Alexander Hamilton to James Mad- 
ison, another prominent member of the Convention that 
framed the Constitution, and we may add, one of the great 



METKOrOLITAN KECOKD. -,'83 

Statesmen with whom that important document originated. 
It is hardly to be supposed that he did not thoroughly un- 
derstand its character, and the authority and powers with 
which it invested the Government in its relations toward 
the States. And yet no man could be more emphatic in 
his denunciation of the mere idea that the Federal Gov- 
ernment had a right to coerce a State by military force. 
Let all who have insisted on the invasion and subjugation 
of the South, and the vigorous prosecution of the war, 
read what Madison said at the Convention which gave the 
present Constitution to the States for adoption : 

"THE MORE I Ri^FLECT ON THE USE OF FORCE, THE MORE 
I DOUBT THE PRACTICABn^ITY AND EFFICIENCY OF IT WHEN 
APPLIED TO A PEOPLE COLLECTIVELY. THE USE OF AN 
ARMED FORCE AGAINST A DISOBEDIENT STATE, OR STATES, 
WOULD LOOK MORE LIKE A DECLARATION OF WAR THAN AN 
INFLICTION OF PUNISHMENT, AND WOULD BE RIGHTLY CON- 
SIDERED A DISSOLUTION OP THE PREVIOUS COMPACTS BY 
WHICH IT MIGHT BE BOUND. THE MOST JARRING ELE- 
MENTS, FIRE AND WATER, ARE NOT MORE INCOMPATIBLE 
THAN SUCH A STRANGE MIXTURE OF CIVIL LIBERTY AND 
MILITARY EXECUTION. WILL THE MILITIA MARCH FROM 
ONE STATE TO ANOTHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF COERCION ? 
IF THEY DO, WILL NOT THE CITIZENS OF INVADED STATES 
ASSIST ONE ANOTHER UNTIL THEY RISE AS ONE MAN, AND 
SHAKE OFF WHAT THEY WILL DENOUNCE AS THE HATED 
UNION ALTOGETHER ? IF YOU SUBJUGATE THEM, HOW ARE 
YOU TO HOLD THEM UNDER A CONSTITUTION THAT IS TO 
BE IMPOSED TO INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILLITY AND. PRO- 
MOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE?" 

When we reflect on the character and the high position 
held by Madison in the confidence of the people, and his 
great ability as a statesman, we can hardly suppose that 
he gave utterance to these opinions on the subject of coer- 
cion without serious reflection and consideration. Then it 
must be borne in mind that he was, so to speak, a member 
of the Government himself, and, in his official capacity, 
pledged to its support and maintenance. Such being the 
case, it will not do to treat his statements lightly, or as of 
little moment. But let us analyze his language and see if 
there can be any misconception in regard to the meaning 
which he intended to convey. 

In the first place, then, he speaks of the use of force, as 
applied to a people in their collective capacity, that is, in 



8^ ARTICLES FROM THE 

the organized form of a State or States. Upon that point 
we think there can be no doubt whatever. Next, it is 
essential to understand the circumstances under which he 
doubts the 25racticabihty and eihciency of this force. But 
there can be no conjecture on this point either ; it is of a 
DISOBEDIENT State OK States he spcaks. And then he 
goes on to say that ttie employment of an armed force in 
this case " would look more like a declaration of war than 
an infliction of punishment ;" and what follows — mark 
this emphatic declaration from one of the authors of the 
Constitution—" WOULD BE RIGHTLY CONSID- 
ERED A DISSOLUTION OF THE PREVIOUS 
COMPACTS BY WHICH IT MIGHT BE BOUND." 
Here, then, is James Madison insisting, as Stephen A. 
Douglas in his last speech in the United States Senate as- 
serted, that civil war is disunion — nay, not only insisting 
that it is disunion, but that the employment of armed force 
against a disobedient State " would be rightly considered 
a dissolution of the previous compacts by which it might 
be bound." After this declaration, he puts the case still 
stronger by this remarkably expressive illustration: "The 
most jarring elements, fire and water, are not more incom- 
patible than such a strange mixture of civil liberty and 
military execution." Is the English language capable of 
stronger expression than this ? Could the subject be put 
more clearly or more forcibly ? We should like to hear 
what construction the Loyal Leaguers, and those who are 
in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, would put 
upon the language of James Madison. If it is capable of 
another interpretation, then we should like to see it. 
After giving his views on the right of coercion, Madison 
then proceeds to set forth the result of such a policy ; and 
it is really remarkable to see how far his predictions have 
been fulfilled by the present war. He asks : " Will the 
militia march from one State to another for the purpose of 
coercion?" and then adds, "if they do, will not the 

CITIZENS OF INVADED StATES ASSIST ONE ANOTHER, UNTIL 
THEY RISE AS ONE MAN AND SHAKE OFF WHAT THEY WILL 
DENOUNCE AS THE HATED UNION ALTOGETHER." 

With the clear perception of a great statesman, Madison 
foresaw the results of the policy of coercion, and warned 



METROPOLITAN RECOKD. 85 

his countrymen against employing it as a means of pre- 
serving the Union. His foresight in this case is go re- 
markable, that one would imagine he was writing subse- 
quent to the events instead of prophesying in regard to 
them three quarters of a century before their occurrence. 

How comes it that we have gone so far astray from the 
landmarks of the Revolution ? How comes it that we 
have forgotten the teachings of the fathers of the Repub- 
lic ? What ignis fatuus has liired us from the straight 
path which they marked out ? The country has been se- 
duced from its political fiith and principles by the foul 
spirit of discord in the form of Abolitionism. We have 
given up George Washington, James Madison, Alexander 
Hamilton, and their compatriots of the Revolution, for 
such men as Abraham Lincoln, John C. Fremont, Charles 
Sumner, and their fellow-Abolitionists, who have told us 
that the Union could not exist half slave half free. We 
have abandoned the traditionary policy of the country, 
which was that of compromise, for the law of force and 
coercion. ^Ye have made loar upon State Governments, 
and the Administration, in doing so, has been guilty of 

THE MOST FLAGRANT OUTRAGE UPON THAT VERY PRINCIPLE 
OF AUTHORITY BY WHICH IT IS SUSTAINED. ItS wholc 

spirit in the present crisis has been in direct conflict with 
the interests of the country. Its policy in the prosecution 
of the war has been more calculated to widen the chasm 
that now divides the North and the South, than to heal 
the wounds of our bleeding country. Its policy is the 
policy of rapine, plunder, and devastation. Abundant 
proofs of this have been furnished by the reports of recent 
raids in Southern States, when private property was de- 
stroyed with the most ruthless vandalism ; the homes of 
planters were burned to the ground ; towns and villages 
were given over to the brand, and even sacred edifices 
w^ere not exempted from the general destruction ; and aU 
this was done in sovereign and independent States, and by 
men who boasted their inheritance of the principles of 
civil and religious liberty. The v.^ork of confiscation and 
emancipation has only been stayed by the bravery of a 
people who firmly beliieved in the righteousness of their 
cause, and who now stand upon the same ground with re- 



86 ARTICLES FKOM THE 

gard to State rights that was occupied by James Madison, 
Alexander Hamilton, and the other patriots of the Revo- 
lution. 

There is no disguising the fact, that this is an Abolition 
war ; that it is carried on by men who have worked all 
their lives for the dissolution of the Union. They may 
fry to conceal their policy, but the facts are on record 
against them, and they can not escape the crushing evi- 
dence of their own words and deeds. They have a fearful 
account to answer for. They have sacrificed a nation to a 
sentiment ; they have plunged the land in a sea of blood ; 
they have brought desolation and mourning into tens of 
thousands of once happy homes ; tl^y have combined with 
the British Abolitionists for the overthrow of the Repub- 
lic ; hundreds of thousands of our people have been vic- 
timized to their fiendish designs, and they have struck a 
blow at popular liberty from which it may never recover. 
Must we plunge irretrievably in the abyss which has been 
opened by the fell spirit of Abolitio?iism f Must we con- 
tinue this shedding of brothers' blood, this work of Cain 
in a more extended and fearful form ? Are the votaries 
of Moloch not yet satisfied, and must they have more 
blood ? Forbid it every sense of right, every sense of 
justice, every sense of humanity. Let us then have 
peace, that the wounds of the country may be healed. 
Let us have peace, that the tears of the widows and or- 
phans may cease to flow Let us have peace, that an end 
may be put to the mihtary despotism under which the 
people are now groaning. Let us have peace, that the 
country may not be overburdened with excessive taxation. 
Let us have peace, as the only means of averting the reign 
of anarchy which will surely attend the prolongation of 
this war. And let us have peace if we would not have 
American freedom crushed out by the heel of an armed 
despotism. 



METEOPOLITAN EECOKD. 87 

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES. 

{From the Metropolitan Record, May 16, 1863.) 

The desperate effort that is being made by the Admin- 
istration to overthrow the sovereignty of the States and to 
establish a consohdated despotism on its ruins has been 
practically illustrated by the establishment of the boi>-us 
State of Kanawha. If the Administration had placed no 
other fact on record but this, it would have been sufficient 
to have consigned it to everlasting infamy. Tliat act was 
not only an insult to the sovereignty of every State, but it 
was a deadly blow aimed at the liberty of the whole coun- 
try. The miserable and mendacious tricksters at Wash- 
ington, in all their despotic policy, have not committed a 
more despotic act than that by which a new State was 
carved out of Virginia without the consent of the only 
parties by whom it could be constitutionally accomplished 
— its people. It was, however, only a natural sequence of 
the policy of the Abolition party, whose hostility to the 
perpetuity of the Union has been so forcibly illustrated by 
''■ the powers that be." 

The division of the State of Virginia is only an example 
on a small scale of the dissolution of the Union. It was a 
violation of the very principle of unity, as well as a great 
outrage upon the independence of a sovereign State. 
Nothing is more clearly set forth in the Constitution, and 
the writings of the statesmen of the Revolution, than this 
great priuciple of the inviolability of a State. Yet the 
Administration, although relying upon the support which 
it has received from some of the States for the subjuga- 
tion OF THE OTHEES, havc been steadily and persistently 
engaged in undermining the very foundation upon which 
they rest. They have carried their Abolition policy not 
only into Southern States, but into Northern States. 
They have imprisoned not only Southern citizens, but 
Northern citizens ; and they have established military law 
not only in the South, but in the North. The Govern- 
ment, THEREFORE, ilAY PROPERLY BE SAID TO BE AT WAR 

WITH BOTH SECTIONS, for our fellow-citizcns of this and 



ISS ARTICLES FEOM THE 

Other States have felt the power of its tyranny. In the 
State of Ohio, which has co-ntribated over a hundred 
thousand vohmteers, the military has superseded the civil 
power, and at the dead hour of night its sovereignty sus- 
tained a most serious wound by the forcible, the unconsti- 
tutional arrest of one of its most prominent citizens. It 
remains with the people of that State to vindicate its sov- 
ereignty and their own rights as freemen. But if they 
fail to do this, now that the Administration has set them 
at defiance, then they are unworthy of the name of 
Americans. 

The statesmen of the Kevolution were particularly em- 
phatic in regard to State sovereignty. Indeed, so em- 
phatic were they that they even regarded the sovereignty 
of a State as of more vital importance than the Union 
itself 

Evidences of this are to be found throughout their 
speeches and their w^ritings. Alexander Hamilton, to 
whose writings we have on several occasions referred, 
made one of his most powerful speeches on this subject in 
the New York Convention for the ratification of the Con- 
stitntion of the United States. From this speech we make 
the following timely and appropriate extract : 

"IF THE ST AITS GOVERNMENTS WERE TO BE ABOLISHED, 
THE QUESTION WOULD WEAR A DIFFERENT FACE. BUT THIS 
IDEA IS INADMISSIBLE. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY 
TO THE SYSTEM. THEIR EXISTENCE MUST FORM A LEADING 
PRINCIPLE IN THE MOST PERFECT CONSTITUTION WE COULD 
FORM. I INSIST TIL^T IT NEVER CAN BE THE INTEREST OR 
DESIRE OF THE NATION.YL LEGISLATURE TO DESTROY THE 
STATE GOVERNMENTS. IT CAN DERIVE NO ADVANTAGE 
FROM SUCH AN EVENT; BUT, ON THE CONTRARY, WOULD 
LOSE AN INDISPENSABLE SUPPORT, A NECESSARY AID IN 
EXECUTING THE LAWS, AND CONVEYING THE INFLUENCE 
OF GOVERNMENT TO THE DOORS OF THE PEOPLE. THE 
UNION IS DEPENDENT ON THE WILL OF THE STATE GOVERN- 
MENTS FOR ITS CHIEF MAGISTRATE AND FOR ITS SEMATE. 
THE BLOW AIMED AT THE MEMBERS MUST GIVE A FATAL 
WOUND TO THE HEAD ; AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE 
STATES MUST BE AT ONCE A POLIITCAL SUICIDE. CAN THE 
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT BE GUILTY OF THIS MADNESS? 
WHAT INDUCEMENTS, WHAT TEMPTATIONS CAN THEY 
HAVE ? WILL THEY ATTACH NEW HONORS TO THEIR STA- 
TION ? WILL THEY INCREASE THE NATIONAL STRENGTH ? 



METROPOLITAN RECOKD. 89 

WILL THEY MULTIPLY THE NATIONAL EESOURCES ? WILL 
THEY MAKE THEMSELVES MORE RESPECTABLE IN THE VIEW 
OF FOREIGN NATIONS OR OF THEIR FELLOW-CITIZENS BY 
ROBBING THE STATES OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVI- 
LEGES ? BUT IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT A POLITICAL 
FRENZY SHOULD SEIZE THE GOVERNMENT— SUPPOSE THEY 
SHOULD MAKE THE A1TEMPT. CERTAINLY, SIR, IT WOULD 
BE FOREVER IMPRACTICABLE. THIS HAS BEEN SUFFI- 
CIENTLY DEMONSTRATED BY REASON AND EXPERIENCE." 

This great statesman tells us that the State governments 
are absolutely necessary to the system, from which follows 
the inevitable inference that the overthrow of State sove- 
reignty must lead to its total destruction. He insisted 
that it could not be the interest or desire of the National 
Legislature to destroy the State governments ; but this 
has been done ; and it is more than probable that the 
Government will lose thereby " an indispensable support, 
a necessary aid in executing the laws, and conveying the 
influence of Government to the doors of the people." 

He tells us that "the destruction of the States must be 
at once a political suicide." We believe that the Govern- 
ment has committed this "suicide," that, in fact, it has no 
longer political life, but only the semblance of vitality. 
The "National Government" has beerf "guilty of this 
madness," and the " inducements" and " temptations" are 
the consolidation of the States and the centralization of 
power at Washington under the control of a military des- 
])0tism. This is the motive by which our "r«^e?*5" have 
been actuated. This is the political frenzy by which they 
have been seized. They have made the attempt to rob 
the States of their " constitutional privileges ;" but we 
have the authority of Hamilton for saying that their mad 
scheme is " forever impracticable." The Administration 
may seem to triumph for a while, but that they will fail, 
miserably, ignominiously fail, there can be no doubt ; for 
as the great statesman to whom we referred says, " this 
has been sufficiently demonstrated by reason and expe- 
rience." 

It is true that Hamilton never supposed the possibility 
of a State being employed as an instrument of coercion, 
as is evident from the following extract contained in his 
speech delivered on the occasion alluded to above : 



V\) ARTICLES FKOM THE 

'* BUT CAN WE BELIEVE THAT ONE STATE WILL EVER 
SUFFER ITSELF TO BE USED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF COER- 
CION ? THE THINO IS A DREAM— IT IS IMPOSSIBLE." 

Such a thing as the employment of one sovereign State 
for the coercion of another sovereign State was regarded 
by him as a dream — as an impossibiUty. He shrank from 
the very contemplation of it; but then he could never 
conceive the probability of the elevation to power of a 
party which had« its existence in the very spirit of dis- 
union. Let us see, however, what he thinks of the suc- 
cess of an effort on the part of the General Government 
to carry out its plan of consolidation and centralization. 
We quote from one of his speeches delivered at the same 
convention : 

"THE STATE ESTABLISHMENTS OF CIVIL AND MILITARY 
OFFICERS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, INFINITELY SURPASSING 
IN NUMBERS ANY POSSIBLE CORRESPONDENT ESTABLISH- 
MENTS IN THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT, WILL CREATE SUCH 
AN EXTENT AND COMPLICATION OF ATTACHMENTS AS WILL 
EVER SECURE THE PREDILECTION AND SUPPORT OF THE 
PEOPLE-. WHENEVER, THEREFORE, CONGRESS SHALL MEDI- 
TATE ANY INFRINGEMENT OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS, 
THE GREAT BODY OF THE PEOPLE NATURALLY TAKE PART 
WITH THEIR DOMESTIC REPRESENTATIVES. .CAN THE GEN- 
ERAL GOVERNMENT WITHSTAND SUCH A UNITED OPPOSI- 
TION ? WILL THE PEOPLE SUFFER THEMSELVES TO BE 
STRIPPED OF THEIR PRIVILEGES? WILL THEY SUFFER 
THEIR LEGISLATURES TO BE REDUCED TO A SHADOW AND A 
NAME ? THE IDEA IS SHOCKING TO COMMON SENSE." 

We have no doubt whatever that the Administration in 
its frenzy will yet provoke a conflict tcith one or more of 
the JSForthem States^ in v^hich it icill inevitably he over- 
thrown. The people in such an emergency, as Hamilton 
predicts, will take part with their domestic representa- 
tives, for they will not " sufter themselves to be stripped 
of their privileges ;" they will not " suffer their legis- 
latures to be reduced to a shadow and a name. The idea 
is shocking to common sense." 

In a conflict between them and the General Govern- 
ment, the States of New York and New Jersey alone 
would be more than a match for all the force which it 
could bring against them. It is well at this time, in view 
of recent occurrences, to consider such a thing among the 



METROPOLITAN KECOED. 91 

probabilities of the future, for the threatening position of 
the Administration toward the sovereignty of the States 
forebodes no good to our hberty. If the Union is ever 
restored, it will be through the great cardinal princi})le 
of State sovereignty. We can not set aside this prin- 
ciple without annihilating the Union. Let ns even suc- 
ceed in conquering the South by overturning State sove- 
reignty in both sections, and we may bid a long farewell 
to democratic freedom. Can we afford to purchase union 
on such terms ? 

We have before referred to the writings of Alexander 
Hamilton on the subject of State sovereignty and the coer- 
cion of States, and we shall conclude this article with an 
extract from one of his letters which we find in No. 1 6 of 
the Federalist : 

WHOEVER CONSIDERS THE POPULOUSNESS AND STRENGTH 
OF SEVERAL OF THESE STATES SINGLY AT THE PRESENT 
JUNCTURE, AND LOOKS FORWARD TO WHAT THEY WILL BE- 
COME EVEN AT THE DISTANCE OF HALF A CENTURY, WILL 
AT ONCE DISMISS AS IDLE AND VISIONARY ANY SCHEME 
WHICH AIMS AT REGULATING THEM OR COERCING THEM IN 
THEIR COLLECTIVE CAPACITIES BY THE GENERAL GOVERN- 
MENT. A PROJECT OF THIS KIND IS LITTLE LESS ROMANTIC 
THAN THE MONSTER-TAMING SPIRIT AT^PRIBUTED TO THE 
FABULOUS HEROES AND DEMIGODS OF ANTIQUITY. EVEN IN 
THOSE CONFEDERACIES WHICH HAVE BEEN COMPOSED OF 
MEMBERS SMALLER THAN MANY OF OUR COUNTIES, THE 
PRINCIPLE OF LEGISLATION FOR SOVEREIGN STATES, SUP- 
PORTED BY MILITARY COERCION, HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND 
EFFECTUAL. IT HAS RARELY BEEN ATTEMPTED TO BE EM- 
PLOYED AGAINST THE WEAKER MEMBERS ; AND IN MOST 
INSTANCES ATTEMPTS THUS TO COERCE THE REFRACTORY 
AND DISOBEDIENT HAVE BEEN THE SIGNALS OF BLOODY 
WARS, IN WHICH ONE HALF THE CONFEDERACY HAS DIS- 
PLAYED ITS BANNERS AGAINST THE OTHER. WE WAl^T NO 
SUCH GOVERNMENT AS THIS. 



92 



ARTICLES FEOM THE 



THE NORTHERISr PLAGUE. 

{From the Metropoltajv Eecoed, 3Iay 23, 1863.) 

Some years ago there burst forth in the N"orth a mental 
and moral epidemic of a most alarming character. From 
the East it came, and onward it swept, sparing neither 
youth nor age, neither man nor woman, in its progress. 
5Firm faith and fixed princij^les alone withstood it, every- 
thing else went down before it like corn before the reaper. 
It attacked the speaker on the stand, the writer at his desk, 
the preacher in the pulpit. It infected the public press, it 
polluted public offices, it contaminated the National Coun- 
cil Chamber. It was propagated by pen and tongue, by 
diseased imitation and morbid sympathy. Weak minds 
and disordered imaginations fell an easy prey to it, while 
those whose healthy moral condition enabled them to defy 
its venom stood aside, and with gloomy forebodings marked 
its desolating career ; saw, with feehngs unutterable, char- 
ity, faith, feeling, kindhness, courtesy vanish before it ; 
saw patriotism wilted by its breadth and truth obscured by 
its influence. Fear fell upon them — the fear that Christians 
feel when souls are in peril, tlie fear. that patriots feel Avhen 
their country is in danger — when they saw nature outraged 
for a sentiment and rehgion displaced to make room for 
philanthropy. Philanthropy, the idol of the nineteenth 
century, the god of men who acknowledge no other. 

Never was there such a scourge seen among men as this 
earth-born, or ratlier hell-born plague. It brought hatred 
and lying in its train, it brought pharisaica] assumption 
and spiritual pride, it brought malice and uncharitableness. 
Whatever it touched was blighted, wdiatever it breathed 
on was smirched. Under its influence men became blas- 
phemers, and boldly, undertook to rectify the work of the 
Omnipotent, and to abrogate the laws of nature as if they 
were those of the United States. The sense of right and 
wrong became obscured, the capacity to judge correctly 
was lost, and the plague-smitten monomaniacs of the North 
drifted through time clinging to their one idea as the 
drowning wretch clings to a straw. 

As physical plagues possess the power of absorbing or 



METEOPOLITAN RECORD. 93 

destroying other diseases, so the great Northern Plague 
of Abolitionism c^radaally swallowed up every other ism. 
Who now hears or Fourierism, Freeloveism, Communism, 
et hoc genus omne ? They are lost in Abolitionism, as 
affluents are in the stream they feed. Yes, the plague has 
reached its height; it has cai'ried off its thousands and 
hundreds of thousands ; it has stricken down the youth 
in his joyousness, and the strong man in his strength ; 
it has made the land desolate, and it has crushed th(i 
great heart of the people. It has devastated North and 
^outh ; it has decimated East and West, and its ravages 
have been cruelly impartial. No sooner is the wail of 
agony for the loved and lost stilled in the lonely home- 
steads of Vermont than it rises w^ild^nd impassioned 
from the orange groves of Carolina. No sooner does 
the tide of sorrow ebb on the Atlantic shore than it flows 
in overwhelming force upon the golden coasts of the 
Pacific. Throughout that immense tract of God's earth 
men call the United States, it has not left one spot un- 
visited — scarcely one home unscathed. Enter any home 
unbidden and at random — mark the stooping forms and 
careworn faces — mark the empty seats and vacant places 
by the fireside ; and, though no yellow flag flutters from 
the roof, be sure the plague has passed there, culling as it 
passed the brightest blossom of the hearth, and nipping 
the fairest bud that grew in that home garden. 

If you are not one that will not learn from the eye, but 
only from the ear, then ask and be convinced — " Killed at 
Fredericksburg," w^here this Northern Plague gathered up 
its victims by hecatombs — " Rotting at Chancellorsville," 
the newly-opened Abolition Golgotha. 

The plagues that afilicted the ancients and medisevals 
pale before our imported pestilence. We shudder as we 
read of them, but they lack that one element of horror 
that makes ours a hissing and a reproach. They were not, 
as ours, self-imposed and self-inflicted ; they were the min- 
isters of God's wrath, not of man's vengeance ; they Avere 
angels of death, not demons of suicide ; and if a determi- 
nation to be rid of their plagues could have saved these 
people, would they have suffered ? It sounds like folly to 
ask the question. Could our plague exist a day if we de- 



94: ARTICLES FROM '(TIE 

creed its death ? ]N'ot an hour, not a inoineiit. Theu, was 
there ever wickedness or folly like to onj.*s ? Future ages 
will shudder as they read of the fearful ravages committed 
by this N'orthern Plague ; but will they sympathize ? Will 
one sigh of regret escape thena for the extinction of a 
l^eople so unequal to their destiny ? 

If, like ordinary plagues, it carried off only those in 
whose veins the venom of its own poison lurked, then the 
bane would have an antidote. But unhappily for us, and 
unhappily for the future, whose interests we had in keep- 
ing, a mighty charge, committed to us by Time and Des- 
tiny, its course in this particular is unlike any of its physical 
congeners. Cunmng as well as fierce, Abolitionism, by aid 
of an auxiliary plague, sweeps off thousands and tens of 
thousands who would never have succumbed to its deadly 
influence. Minds too healthy, souls too strong to be in- 
fected by it, are carried ofl* by the war fever that follows 
in its train, and the country is cheated out of compensation. 
If every one tainted with Abolitionism were swept away 
by it, and the moral and political atmosphere purified by 
the carrying ofi' of all infected bodies, then indeed the out- 
bursts of this plague might have worked for the nation's 
weal. Then indeed it would have been but a blessing in 
disguise. But unfortunately, let this war end when it will, 
or how it will, it will leave the Abolitionists as strong nu- 
merically as it found them ; for, though they love the scent 
of blood, they love to scent it afar off. They stay at home 
in their easy-chairs, discharging virus through their pens, 
and doing all that in them lies to j^ropagate the plague 
that is threatening the life of the country. Oh, that our 
soldiers only knew what tools they were made ; that the 
glamour were removed from their sight, so t^at they could 
see, back of the Stars and Stripes, the yellow flag of pes- 
tilence — the present battle-flag of the United States ; the 
flag that waved at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville ; 
the flag that will lead them yet to heavier losses and to 
deeper disgrace. When that day of great awakening 
comes, the army of the United States will muster itself out 
of service. 



METROPOLITAN KECOED. 95 



THE LETTER OF GOVERNOR SEYMOUR. 

, {From the Metropolitan Record, 3Iay 30, 1863.) 

In last week's Record we published the manly, the 
spirit-stirring letter of the Governor of the State of New 
York, Horatio Seymour. It had in it the ring of the true 
metal, and its tones awakened in the heart of the people a 
sympathy with the feelings which dictated it, that the 
authorities at Washington must not, and can not, ignore 
without injury to their own personal and political interests. 

Scorning the language of diplomacy and political in- 
trigue, it gave expression to the sentiments of its author in 
the bold and manly utterances of an American freeman. 
There is not a man whose heart beats with the impulses of 
freedom that did not feel it bound with joy as he read the 
letter in which our State Executive denounces the arrest 
of Yallandigham as " an act which has brought dishonor 
upon our country, which is full of danger to our persons 
and our homes, and which bears upon its front a conscious 
violation of law and justice."' 

This is the true language in which to characterize the 
atrocious, the infamous proceedings of the Administration 
and its tools in the arrest of Hon. Clement L. Yallan- 
digham. There is no temporizing in this, no resort to 
those mean subterfuges known among politicians as po- 
litical expediency. That lettergives unrestrained expres- 
sion to the true feelings of his heart, and they show that he 
has been chafing under the restraints which a long-abused 
patience, prudence, and forbearance imposed upon him. 
His letter is not only the severest rebuke which the Ad- 
ministration has yet received, but it is a scathing, withering 
denunciation of the vile nature of the proceedings by which 
the citizen of a free State is dragged from his home at the 
dead hour of night by armed men, subjected to a trial by 
court-martial, and secretly conveyed beyond the bound- 
aries of a sovereign State to be incarcerated in a Govern- 
ment bastile. 

Well might our noble and true-hearted Governor stigma- 
tize the transaction as involving a series of offenses against 



9B ARTICLES FROM THE 

our most sacred rights, as an interference with the freedom 
of speech, as a violation of the security of our homes, and 
as a mockery of jhstice. He does not mince his language, 
and the Avhole spirit of his letter is a simple expression of 
the indignation which he feels as an American citizen at 
the outrages that have been perpetrated on the sacred cause 
of liberty. Nay, he goes still further, and asserts that if 
this action of the authorities at Washington is sanctioned 
by the people, it is an act of revolution — it is the estab- 
lishment of a military despotism. Whatever apprehen- 
sions might have been entertained with regard to the 
position of Governor Seymour, there certainly can be no 
doubt now, after this declaration of his principles, as to the 
views he entertains in reference to the policy of the Ad- 
ministration. It is clear that since the crowning act of its 
career — the arrest, military trial, and imprisonment of Mr. 
Vallandigham — he looks upon it as a military despotism. 
He naturally feels apprehensive of the liberties of the peo- 
ple of the great State of New York. He knows that he 
is the custodian of those liberties, and that he is bound by 
his oath of office to maintain them with all the powers and 
resources of the Empire State. And why is it, let us ask, 
that we citizens of New York are not subject to the same 
arbitrary despotism of which Mr. Vallandigham has been 
made the victim ? The answer is to be found in the fact 
that Ohio is under a Governor who is but a creature of the 
Administration, while we have elected as our State Execu- 
tive a man who loves liberty, and who is determined to 
stand by the rights of the people of the great State with 
the defense of whose freedom and interests he has been 
intrusted. ^ 

We must confess that previous to Governor Seymour's 
letter we had entertained some doubt as to the course he 
intended to pursue. But that letter, manly, bold, and out- 
spoken as it is, has set at rest whatever misgivings we 
might have felt in regard to his policy. But it is not alone 
in his letter that we find the guarantees of his future action, 
for we have received assurances from those who have en- 
joyed the opportunity of personal intercourse with him, 
that he will at all hazards oppose the usurpation of the 
Federal Administration within the limits of the Empire 



METROPOLITAN EECOED. 97 

State, and meet their unconstitutional and despotic course 
with its whole military power and resources, if necessary. 
We have, therefore, every confidence not only in the 
sincerity but in the resolution and hackhone of our Gov- 
ernor, and we entertain no doubt whatever of the people 
standing by him in maintaining the sovereignty of the 
State. We are aware that there are a few timid and 
wavering people who shrink from the very contemplation 
of an armed collision between the State and Federal Gov 
ernments ; but they ought to know that it is only by th 
resolution and firmness of our State Executive that such a 
collision can be avoided. They dread, forsooth, the bom- 
bardment of the city of New York by the forts in our 
harbor ; but the resort to so desperate an extremity would 
be the death-knell of the Administration, and would seal 
the fate of the miserable creatures of whom it is .com- 
posed. We can hardly conceive the possibility of suck an 
occurrence, of such a mad, such an insane, such a suicidal 
act. The bombardment of New York would be the signal 
of an uprising compared with which that evoked by the 
assault on Fort Sumter would be mere child's play. No, 
no ; there need be no apprehension of such an act of des- 
peration on the part of the Federal authorities. The first 
duty of every citizen of New York is to stand by the 
authority that gives protection to life and property ; the 
authority that punishes the burglar and the murderer, that 
guards the people alike against the terrors of moh violence 
and the usurpations of despotic power. It is the State 
government from which Ave obtain charters for our institu- 
tions, charitable, religious, and educational. It is to the 
State government that we look for the redress of our 
grievances ; it is to the State government that we must 
apply for the rectification of any legislative wrong ; it is 
the State government that not only grants charters but 
that makes appropriations for enterprises of benevolence 
and charity ; and it is the State government that is now 
establishing in this city and elsewhere houses of rest for 
our wounded and disabled volunteers, who have been flung 
aside by the Federal Administration. It is the State gov- 
ernment that is nearest to us ; it is with that we have most 
to do. Its courts are the most numerous ; its officers are 



98 ARTICLES FROM THE 

more familiar to us ; it is for its support that we are taxed, 
while the Federal Government is comparatively unknown 
to our fellow-citizens. Said Alexander ^Hamilton, when 
speaking on this subject : 

" THE STAl'E ESTABLISHMENTS OP CIVIL AND MILITART 
OFFICERS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION INFINITELY SURPASSING 
IN NUMBER ANY CORRESPONDING ESTABLISHMENT OF OF- 
FICERS IN THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT WILL CREATE SUCH 
AN EXTENT AND COMPLICATION OF ATTACHMENTS AS WILL 
SECURE THE SUPPORT AND PREDILECTION OF THE PEOPLE. 
WHENEVER, THEREFORE, CONGRESS SHALL MEDITATE ANY 
INFRINGEMENTS OF THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS, THE GREAT 
BODY OF THE PEOPLE AVILL NATURALLY TAKE PART WITH 
THEIR DOMESTIC REPRESENTATIVES. CAN THE GENERAL 
GOVERNMENT WITHSTAND SUCH A UNITED OPPOSITION ? 
WILL THE PEOPLE SUFFER THEMSELVES TO BE STRIPPED 
OF THEIR PRIVILEGES ? WILL THEY SUFFER THEIR LEGISLA- 
TURES TO BE REDUCED TO A SHADOW AND A NAIME ? THE 
IDEA IS SHOCKING TO COMMON SENSE." 

Yet this very idea has been realized in the State of 
Ohio, and would be in the State of New York were it 
under a Republican Governor. We are, however, par- 
ticularly fortunate in having a State Executive who fully 
understands the vital importance of his position at the 
present juncture, and who possesses both the courage and 
the firmness to meet the impending crisis. 

Governor Seymour knows full well that the Administra- 
tion is determined, not to abandon the almost absolute 
power of which it is now in possession without a despe- 
rate struggle. Its assaults upon the well-defined constitu- 
tional rights of the people and upon State sovereignty 
afibrd sutficient evidence of its designs in that direction. 
The shallow pretext that the suspension of our rights as 
citizens is necessary for the overthrow of the Southern 
Confederacy could never deceive any man except him who 
has abandoned his reason and common sense to ofticial 
keeping. The people of New York can not be misled by 
those specious devices, and they are, Ave feel convinced, 
determined to stand by our Governor at every hazard. 

We are no alarmists, but we regard the infamous out- 
rage perpetrated by the authorities at Washington upon 
the State sovereignty of Ohio as the most fatai blow that 
has yet been aimed at popular freedom. We b(?heve it is 



METROPOLITAN RECOED. 



99 



high time to take immediate measures to put our State in 
a position in which she will be able to defend herself 
aj^ainst similar encroachments by the Federal authorities. 
We earnestly trust that there will be no delay in this mat- 
ter, and that the Governor will place at least one hundred 
thousand of our militia \ipon a war footing. If there are 
not arms enough within the limits of the State, then let 
them be purchased at once, and suiEcient stores of ammu- 
nition accumulated. We entreat the Governor, in the 
name of law and order, to see to it that there be no un- 
necessary delay in this matter, to see to it that the people 
are not forced to band themselves together in independent 
and illegal organizations ; that our lives and our properties 
may not be feft at the mercy of armed mobs, that what- 
ever opposition shall be made by the people against a 
Federal usurpation of their rights may be made under the 
sanction and with the authority of the State Government. 

The Administration has done all in its power to foster 
and encourage the organization within the limits of the 
Empire State of societies which are pledged to the sup- 
port of its unconstitutional measures, yet the men who 
compose these societies, these so-called " Loyal Leagues," 
look to the State authorities for protection to life and pro- 
perty, thereby acknowledging the f;ict that they owe the 
highest allegiance to the State. 

If their policy prevailed, State boundaries would be 
broken down, and the principle of State sovereignty would 
be lost in a centralized despotism. We contend that such 
bodies are inimical to our State Government, bound as 
they are to the support of the policy of the Administra- 
tion, whether just or unjust, constitutional or unconstitu- 
tional. 

We repeat that there should be no delay, and if we 
may seem to be too urgent, it is from a sincere desire that 
the honor of the great State of which we are a citizen may 
not be injured and its interests may not be placed in dan- 
ger by the ill-judged or irregular proceedings of men 
whether opposing the tyrannical acts of the Federal Ad 
ministration or sustaining them under the title of Loya* 
Leaguers. 



100 ARTICLES FROM THE 



A POLAND IN THE UNITED STATES. 

{From the Metropolitan Record, May 30, 1863.) 

This week we have fearful intelligence from the West. 
A star has fallen from onr Northern sky. Ohio, the Sicily 
of America, has been blotted out of the list of Sovereign 
States ; her territory violated, her citizens outraged, her 
supremacy defied by an individual bearing the military 
commission of the United States. But yesterday she sat 
a queen, holding as high a rank in our system of confed- 
erated sovereignties as the Empire State ; to-day she is a 
dependency of Washington, unable to assert her own sove- 
reignty or the liberty of her citizens, unable to preserve 
her soil from desecration or to avenge it. Discrowned 
Ohio, our noble sister State, how bitterly we feel the hu- 
miliation that has fallen upon thee ! And to make it the 
more galling, inflicted by a fugitive from Fredericksburg ; 
a man who had neither prudence enough to keep his army 
out of danger nor daring enough to carry them through it. 
Yet this man, once out of sight of a Southern foe, becomes 
foolhardy, and boldly strikes at the authority of a sove- 
reign State. He can not beat Southern soldiers, but he can 
browbeat Northern citizens ; he can not cope with rebels, 
but then he is an overmatch for any loyal man in his de- 
partment. Smarting from the drubbing he had received 
in Virginia, Burnside hastened to the West, determined to 
retrieve himself, and, by reducing Ohio to a state of vas- 
salage, make amends for his misadventures in the Old 
Dominion. And to our sorrow, and to her shame, he has 
done it. 

In the dead of the night his armed myrmidons swept 
the State, and, without the shadow of law, forced their 
way into a private dwelling, dragged a distinguished citizen 
of Ohio from his home and family, carried him beyond the 
boundaries of the State, beyond the protection of the legal 
tribunals, and delivered him over to the tender mercies of 
a court-martial. For what crime ? For differing with the 
men in power on the best means of restoring the Union ; 
for refusing to receive his political creed from Washington, 



METROPOLITAN EECORD. 101 

and for preaching the faith that was in him " in season and 
out of season ;" for endeavoring to instill into the people 
his own apprehensions, and to animate them with his own 
resolve ; for bearing himself, in tact, as a freeman in a free 
State, and not as a sus2Mt in a IVIilitary Department. Can 
American citizens of any party or politics read that episode 
of wrong and violence without a blush — picture to them- 
selves the terror of the trembhng household awakened in 
the " dead waste and middle of the night" by armed ma- 
rauders — the agony of the heart-stricken, frantic wife as 
she saw her husband borne away, and remembered that 
but a few weeks previous the editor of an anti-Govern- 
ment paper was seized upon in the same manner and 77iur- 
dered — without shuddering sympathy ? 

Is it a page of English history we are reading ? Is it an 
incident of a Cossack raid in Poland that sets our blood 
a-bounding ? No ; our sympathies are wanted nearer home. 
We have none to spare now for Poland or Ireland, for 
Posen or Himgary. We have found our Poland in the 
West, so sorely oppressed, so terribly beset, that it claims 
all our thoughts and needs all our assistance. What is 
Ohio, stripped of sovereignty, independence, and liberty, 
lorded over by a military viceroy, who holds the life, lib- 
erty, and property of its citizens in his hands, but the Po- 
land of America ? The Governor of Ohio is a thing for 
men to laugh at. He has seen his State degraded, his 
office ignored, his constituents outraged, the laws of the 
State contemptuously nullified by a Government that has 
taken up arms to put down nullification in the South ; and 
yet he has made no sign, uttered no protest, taken no 
measures to obtain satisfaction for the gross insult. Would 
that it had happened in New York. If it had, we venture 
to predict that the men at Washington would have been 
taught a lesson that even they, obtuse as they are, would 
have understood. If Ohio had understood the animus of 
the men in Washington as well as New York does, if she 
rested on her arms, as every State should do at the present 
crisis, she would not now be mourning her lost sovereignty, 
and her exiled son, the gallant champion and confessor of 
liberty. Did she think that the liberticide, like the haughty 
Florentines of old, would scorn to pounce upon a foe with- 



102 ABTICLES FEOM THE 

out warning ? Did she expect that such a remnant of 
chivalry existed in the breasts of the Lincolnites, the party 
that has produced Butler and Schenck, and Hooker and 
Hascall ? Ah ! there was her mistake. She forgot that 
"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and she has 
fallen. 

Yes, we are catching up to Europe fast, and in the 
science of government nearing day by day her imperial 
models. The plant that in Europe took centuries to ripen, 
here, thank»s to our warmer climate, is perfected in a day. 
Tyranny which there has been fostered by time and de- 
veloped by circumstances, has here sprung up like a weed. 
But European tyranny is a century plant — American tyr- 
anny a mere mushroom — not a growth, but an excrescence, 
without a root in the soil or a branch in the air, owing its 
existence to accident, and deprived by nature of the means 
of perpetuating itself. And herein are our grounds for 
hope, this is our guarantee — that, though American tyranny 
may equal Russian in excess, it never can in duration. No ! 
struggle as it may, it can never fasten itself upon the coun- 
try ; the generation that saw it rise will see it wither, and 
the men who, in their mad folly, allowed themselves to be 
used as instruments in sow;ing the seeds, before two years 
are about will regret it in bitterness of heart. 



THE FUTURE. 

(From the Metropolitan Kecord, June 6, 1863.) 

Ii' requires no prophetic vision to foresee the result of 
the present war. That it will terminate in the complete 
independence of the Southern Confederacy there can, we 
think, be no doubt in the mind of any rational man. We 
have nothing but contempt for the opinions of a party or 
leader who insists that the Union can be restored by the 
prolongation of hostilities. It is the worst kind of hy- 
pocrisy to deceive the people by holding out hopes that 
can never be reahzed, and of this hypocrisy the North has 
been made the deluded victim. Some of these leaders 



METROPOLITAN RECOKD. 103 

may have really believed that the South could be forced 
into the Union, but the majority never labored under such 
a delusion. A few were afraid to take any other course ; 
a few were bribed to join the Loyal Leaguers ; but the 
great mass imagined that there was no other way to pop- 
ularity except by favoring " a vigorous prosecution of the 
war." In fact, the war fever swept over the North, in- 
fecting the great body of the people, leaders and all, with 
the exception of a few, who, like the still, small voice of 
conscience, were heard amid the universal din and clangor 
of arms. Among these the Record was proud to rank 
itself, satisfied that the time would come when its course 
would be justified, and the policy which it consistently 
advocated would prevail. Its Editor was opposed to the 
war from the ■ start ; he was accused of being a secession- 
ist ; he was charged with treason, and threatened with 
the fate which has already befallen so many of the advo- 
cates of peace. It is almost needless to state that we 
stand now where we have always stood ; that Ave have 
nothing to retract ; and that we would prefer at any time 
to see the Union divided into tAvo Confederacies rather 
than live in a Union one portion of which would be held in 
military subjection to the other. Some of our friends 
have difiered with us on this point ; but the time will 
come — and it is fast hastening — when they will be obliged 
to stand upon our platform. We insisted that Avar could 
never restore the Union — that it was a Union of free-Avill, 
and not of force — that there was nothing in the Constitu- 
tion or the writings of the fathers of the Revolution to 
justify or authorize coercion. 

This, hoAvever, is of the past, and we trust its stern and 
terrible lessons have had their due eftect upon the people 
of the ISTorth. They certainly should be satisfied by this 
time of the imbecility and the incompetency of those who 
compose the Administration. They have seen enough to 
satisfy them that the men in Washington are utterly un- 
able to cope with the crisis, and that they will, by their 
policy, eventually drive the Northern States to resolve 
themselves into their original sovereignties. It is useless 
-—nay, it is worse than useless — it is criminal, at this crit- 
ical juncture, to deceive the people by holding out hopes 



104 ARTICLES FROM THE 

that can never be realized. They have already had enough 
of broken pivomises and violated pledges, and it is now the 
duty of every man whose opinions are supposed to have* 
any weight or influence in the community, to express those 
opinions frankly and fearlessly. 

The Administration having utterly failed to subjugate 
the South, and the South having maintained itself gal- 
lantly and successfully against an overwhelming invasion 
from the North, repeated again and again, it now depends 
upon the States whether they shall continue to sustain the 
war policy, and, by so doing, establish a permanent des- 
potism that shall sweep away the last vestiges of popular, 
liberty from the ISTorthern States. We do not believe 
that they are prepared for such a disastrous, such a fatal 
result, and we. have therefore a few serious reflections to 
present in regard to the future prospects of the northern 
portion of the old Union, and these reflections we shall 
present under separate heads. 

I. A Convention of the Northern States must be held 
to take into consideration the new condition in which they 
are now placed, and to devise means for their reorganiza- 
tion or re-confederation under a new Constitution. This 
Convention, if held, will be composed of delegates from 
each State, whose basis of representation will be fixed, not 
by States, but by the proportion of population. Each 
State, however, being sovereign, will have the power to 
ratify or reject the Constitution proposed and adopted in 
the Convention. In this respect their action will not \ 
difier from that of the States that adopted the old Consti- 
tution and formed the Union, which has been overthrown 
by an Abolition Administration. In that Convention, we 
have no doubt, the sovereignty of the States will be 
guarded Avith the same jealous care that marked their 
action in the Convention to which the present Constitu- 
tion owes its origin. 

II. The vast debt which has been accumulated by the 
present mad, fanatical, and suicidal war, will, as a matter 
of imperative necessity, be repudiated. In stating this 
fact, we do not seek to justify the principle of rej)udi.Htion, 
which is alike dishonorable in a nation or an individual. 
We speak of such a policy now as among the iuevitabh' 



METKOPOLITAN RECOKD. 105 

consequences of the lamentable condition in which the 
North finds itself after an Abohtion crusade of over two 
years. The debt of the North may now be estimated at 
about two thousand five hundred millions of dollars, and 
the interest on this, at seven per cent., would be about 
one hundred and eighty millions, which is larger than the 
interest on the national debt of England. When it is re- 
membered that the English national debt was the growth 
of centuries, while ours has been created by a two-years' 
war, the restiveness and impatience of the American people 
under such a load will be fully understood and appre- 
ciated. We do 7iot believe they loill stand it^ and we en- 
tertain no doubt whatever that they will seek relief ifi repu- 
diation. 

ni. The people having had, through the policy of the 
present Administration, a pretty fair experience of a mili- 
tary despotism, will instruct their delegates to the afore- 
said Convention to insist upon the inviolability of State 
rights, the sovereignty of the States, the liberty of the 
press, the freedom of speech, habeas corpus, and all the 
rights, guaranteed by the present Constitution. Upon 
these important points they will be so explicit and so di- 
rect as to leave no possible grounds for apprehension in 
the future, 

IV. Adndtting the existence of two Confederacies with- 
in the limits of the old Union, the Government estab- 
lished under the new Constitution will have to deal with 
the important question of boundaries, customs, river navi- 
gation, and the general relations that may spring up be- 
tween the two Confederacies. It is essential that these 
relations should not be complicated ; that they should, in 
fact, be so simple and so easily understood as to avoid the 
possibiUty of future collisions. We trust ■ that there will " 
be entire free trade between the two Republics, so as to 
render border custom-houses entirely unnecessary. The 
navigation of the Mississippi will, and must be, free to the 
Gulf of Mexico ; any other arrangement will be inevitably 
productive of future wars. 

Y. As friendly relations between the two Confederacies 
are essential to the welfare and the future prosperity of 
both, it should be the pohcy of the Northern, as we trust it 



106 ' AETIOLES . FEOM THE 

will be of the Southern, to discourage and frown down every 
attempt to create hostile or bitter feelings between their re- 
spective governments and peoples. As for the l^orth, its 
commercial and profit-seeking people will be among the 
first in the effort to obliterate the past, and to sink its un- 
pleasant memories in the gulf of oblivion. It must be ac- 
knowledged that the Northern people are, to a great 
extent, like the English, " a nation of shopkeepers," and 
that the presetii war has hee7i waged as much to retain the 
custoyn of the South as to maintain the Union. Now, we 
venture to say that none will be more anxious or more 
earnest to exhibit their friendly feelings toward the people 
of the South than the very men who have been, and are 
still, so rampant for a vigorous prosecution of the war; 
nay, we not only believe, this, but we believe also that they 
will be the greatest toadies of the South; that they will 
be profuse in their professions of good-will and friendly 
feeling ; that they will fete and toast " our Southern 
brethren" at the future banquets that will be given to 
them in Northern cities ; that they mil never tire in 
speaking or writing of a common origin, a common an- 
cestry, a common language, and all those other things 
which we have been accustomed to hear at convivial as- 
sembhes of Americans and Englishmen. All this we shall, 
most probably, see within a very few years in this our own 
day and generation. 

VI. We have referred to the Convention of the North- 
ern States as among the inevitable consequences of this 
war and the condition to which the North has been re- 
duced. It is possible, but we do not regard it as prob- 
able, that the North shall witness another Presidential 
election before that Convention shall have taken place. 
•This is a melancholy reflection, but we are considering our 
present position, and dealing with the hard substantial 
facts that have been forced upon our consideration. If we 
could blot out the memories, the sad, bitter recollections 
of the past two years and a half, oh ! how willingly would 
we do so. It is not we, or such as we, who have destroyed 
this Union. The murderers of this nation, the assassins 
of the Republic, are to be found in Washington in the 
members of the present Administration, who, with their 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 107 

co-conspirators, the Abolitionists, have overthrown the 
Union, and are now seeking to bury in the same grave 
with it the vestiges of American freedom. Taking it for 
granted that the Administration has not only destroyed 
the Republic, but that by its manner of prosecuting the 
war, its confiscation and emancipation measures, its van- 
dalism in the destruction of Southern cities and Southern 
homes, its war upon the freemen of the North, upon State 
sovereignty, as well as its nullification of all the guaran- 
tees of the Constitution — taking it for granted that the 
Administration has by such instrumentalities not only de- 
stroyed the Republic, but is now seeking to permanently 
fasten a military despotism upon the North, the free States 
will be compelled, in their own defense, and for the j)res- 
ervation of their independence, to begin anew the process 
of re-construction and re-formation. The men who have 
not been committed to the Abolition policy of the Gov- 
ernment must be selected for the performance of this 
work. Aholitionis^n must he abolished if we would pre- 
serve friendly relations with the South with the view to 
an offensive and defensive aUiance of the two great Re- 
publics of America against the intrigues and machinations 
of foreign powers. 

VII. 'It is possible that the memories of wrongs and 
outrages committed during a ruthless invasion of the 
South may render such an alliance a work of difficulty for 
many years ; but the statesmen of the South will, we be- 
lieve, be the first to perceive the necessity for, and the 
benefits derivable from, such relationship between the two 
Republics. It would be as much their interest as ours to 
establish and preserve these relations between the North 
and the South. Such an arrangement would do away 
with the necessity of large standing armies and expensive 
navies. If we mistake not there is a treaty between the 
United States and Great Britain in regard to the great 
lakes, by which the maintenance of a large naval force in 
those waters is rendered unnecessary. As for the settle- 
ment of Abolitionism, there will, we think, be less trouble 
than when the South was in the Union. We may not 
have a Fugitive Slave Law, and we may ; but whether we 
shall have or shall not have one, we think the great ma- 



108 AKTIOLES FEOM THE 

jority of the people of the North have sufficiently, shown 
that they are not desirous of a further increase in the 
negro population of these States. They are excluded 
from Illinois by legislative enactment, and in other States 
such demonstrations have been made against the intro- 
duction of contrabands as ought to satisfy any rational 
mind that they are not considered desirable additions to 
the population. In fact, Mr. Lincoln himself may be 
quoted in proof of the reliability and truth of these state- 
ments. His interview with the coloi-ed delegation that 
visited him about a year ago, in which he told them that 
they could not live as freemen in the same community 
with the whites without injury to the latter, is pretty sat- 
isfactory on this point, as is also his effort to colonize them 
in Central America, whether that effort shall prove a fail- 
ure or a success. 

VIII. One of the most difficult questions to settle will 
be that of the Territories, which, if not settled definitely 
and conclusively by a convention between the two Confed- 
eracies, may lead to endless disputes, and perhaps hostih- 
ties. It may be that the old Missouri Compromise line 
will be adopted; but, whatever line may be adopted as 
the limit of the Northern and Southern territories, that 
line must be clearly and distinctly drawn. Whatever dis- 
putes may arise about these Territories, they certainly can 
not originate in any fear that either Confederacy will not 
have sufficient land to meet the demands of their popula- 
tion for two or thi'ee centuries to come. In fact, the • 
growth of population on this continent, although unprece- i 
dentedly rapid, will not be adequate for generations to the a 
settlement and the cultivation of the almost illimitable do- v 
main that stretches west of the Mississij^pi away to the si- 
Kocky Mountains. ii 

IX. At the close of the war, a new q*uestion will come h^ 
up for the consideration of that portion that still remains ifl- 
of the old Union. This is no less a question than the fu- 
ture position of the border slave States. If the principle 
of universal suffrage is to prevail with regard to the elec- 
tion of their choice between the North and the South, 
then that question must be left to their own decision by 
a general election in each State, and with regard to 



METROPOLITAN KECOED. 109 

the selection, we believe that if left entirely nntram- 
meled by governmental or bayonet interference, they 
will decide by large majoj'ities of their populations to 
go with the ISouthern Confederacy. There is one sub- 
stantial reason for arriving at this conclusion. These 
States are bound together by common sympathies, by 
common interests, and by the institution of slavery, Avhich 
is common to all. These are like so many hnks of steel ; 
but, independent of these considerations, the fact that all 
of them, with one exception, have been made the theater 
of war, and have been subjected to the full force of the 
Washington tyranny and its miHtary satraps, affords of 
itself sufficient grounds for the belief that they will go 
with the South. It is absurd to urge in refutation of this 
23osition that, if they conclude to remain with the IsTorth- 
ern States, their slaves will not be interfered with. What 
po^ver on earth can guarantee this in view of the rampant, 
despotic Abohtionism that has taken possession o-ven of 
the Government itself? What guarantee have they, 
even, that in the event of interference with the peculiar 
institution, they will be compensated by Government for 
the emancipation of their slaves ? In this connection, let 
us ask, what has become of the offer to purchase the free- 
dom of the slaves in Kentucky and Missouri ? Do we not 
all know that the proposed manumission, so far as Mis- 
souri and Kentucky are concerned, has turned out to be a 
miserable failure ? Of the whole two thousand live hun- 
dred millions of dollars expended during the war, we doubt 
■f one million was appropriated to purchase the freedom 
fj'f slaves. Such is the result of a sentiment that has con- 
-. ulsed the country throughout its entire extent ; that has 
-.■.>d to the sacrifice of some six or seven hundred thousand 
n ves ; that has made the land to resound with the wails 
ir the widows and the orphans ; and that has overthrown 
I e mightiest Republic the world has ever seen. Who 
oclieves that, with the full knowledge of all these facts, 
the border slave States would be wilhng to remain with 
the North if they are afibrded an opportunity of linking 
their destiny with that of the South ? 

We have endeavored, calmly and dispassionately, to dis- 
cuss the condition to which the country is fast hastening, 



110 ARTICLES FKOM THE 

and in doing so we have been governed solely by a frank 
and candid desire to consider the various issues which 
must inevitably grow out of that condition. We feel, we 
believe, that not a few of our readers will difler with us in 
the conclusions at which we have arrived, that they still 
cling to the hope of a restored Union, and that the time 
will come when the States shall resume their old relations 
toward each other. We respect their feelings, and we 
know they will believe us when we say that no sacrifice 
would be too great for us to make to restore the Republic 
to its former unity, prosperity, and position among the 
nations of the earth. But the policy of the Administra- 
tion has rendered this impossible, and loe have now to 
deal with accomplished facts. We shall ask our readers, 
one and all, even those who differ with us, to take a brief 
review of the past, and from the light which it affords to 
draw their own conclusions with regard to the future. 
If they should coincide in our views, we shall be satisfied 
that the arguments we have presented are not without 
some weight and influence, while we do not wish to dissi- 
pate any well-founded hopes that may exist with regard 
to the attainment of an end so much desired by us all. 
Let us, then, without further preface, take a glance at the 
events of the past two years, and the present condition of 
the country. 

When Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated he took a most sol- 
emn oath to fulfill his constitutional obligations, and he 
subsequently i^ledged himself not to interfere with the pe- 
culiar institution in the slave States. 

Let us see how far his actions have accorded with his 
promises. With the most indecent haste slavery was abol- 
ished in the District of Columbia, the signature of the Pres- 
ident giving his sanction to the law. A measure was set on 
foot for emaiicip.iiiou in the border States to which Mr. Lin- 
coln gave his inliuence ; but the Abolition policy of his Ad- 
ministration was developed most prominently and most in- 
sidiously in the Confiscation and Emancipation acts, which 
were almost exclusively aimed at the peculiar institution. 
In these various instances the most conclusive proof was af- 
forded to tiie ?outh that the whole strength and power of 
the Grovernment was enlisted in a grand Abolition crusade. 



METEOPOLITAN EECOED. Ill 

The Union men of that section of the Republic were now 
satisfied thut they had nothing to hope for, and Avere forced, 
however unwilUngly, into the ranks of the secessionists. 
The South, by this policy, was consolidated into one com- 
pact mass, to destroy which all the power of the North has 
been launched against it again and again without success. 
But there was another feature which became, as time wore 
on, more and more apparent. This was the imbecility, the 
utter incompetency of the Administration to cope with 
the crisis ; and this feature is now acknowledged by its 
ersCwhile warmest supporters. It has had over two thou- 
sand millions of dollars and nearly a million and a half of 
men with which to subjugate the South ; for, after all, it 
must be admitted that this is a war of subj agation. Well, 
this war of subjugation is a total- failure, as Douglas, and 
Clay, and Webster, and Hamilton, and Madison, and other 
great statesmen of the country predicted. What have we 
accomplished by it ? The complete alienation of the 
Southern States, with their seven or eight millions of 
Ameiican freemen. We have had, it is true, some refu- 
gees from the Southern States, who have endeavored to 
create such a sympathy as should manifest itself in the 
substantial character of pecuniary support. These men 
have told us wonderful stories of a Union feeling south of 
Mason and Dixon's line. But what has that Union feeling 
accomplished ? Absolutely nothing. 

Battle after battle has been fought, the Union army 
being oftener vanquished than victorious ; and it is now 
confessed that the Southern Confederacy was never so de- 
fiant, so powerful, or so able in every way to maintain its 
independence as it is at the present time. It is doubtful 
if the efibcdve force of the Union army exceeds five hun- 
dred thousand men — indeed, we are of the opinion that it 
is not mucn over four hundred thousand. 

Is any one mad enough to imagine that such a force is 
equal to tho overthrow of the armies commanded by Lee, 
and Johnston, and Bragg, and Beauregard, and the other 
great generais of the South? Is any man so insane as to 
believe that McClellan, even had he the genius of Napo- 
leon himself, would be equal to such a task? What a de- 
lusion, then, to flatter om'selves with the hope that a 
people who Jcno^o their strength^ and who have tested it 



112 ARTICLES FROM THE 

through the ordeal of a two-years' laar^ the most sanguiro- 
ary^ the most disastrous^ the m,ost expensive on record^ 
will be inclined to give up that independence for which 
they have fought so long, struggled so valiantly, and sacri- 
ficed so much ? 

But then again we are told that the resources of the 
North in men and money are equal to a continuance of 
the war for two years more, and longer if need be^ while 
some, in the height of their folly, in the excess of their 
absurdity, tell us that they will fight until the last man 
and the last dollar in the treasury is expended. Such talk 
is unworthy of a moment's consideration. Let us tell 
those who indulge in this bombastic nonsense that the 
conscription is already a failure ; that a hundred thousand 
men can not be raised by it ; that there are hardly enough 
hands left to perform the manual labor of the country; 
that Massachusetts, with all her efforts to recruit, even 
among the black population, is twenty thousand behind 
her quota ; that the military arrests of Burnside and Has- 
call in the West have roused a feeling of indignation 
which may at any time burst forth in all the horrors of 
civil strife ; that the confidence of the people in the Ad- 
ministration, its generals, and the final success of this war, 
is gone, utterly gone ; and that the great mass of our 
people are sick and tired of this fruitless waste of blood 
and treasure. 

Is not this the true state of the case ? What hypocrisy, 
then, to talk of a further prolongation of hostilities ! Let 
us not be deceived any longer by temporizmg, by insin- 
cere and tricky politicians. Let us rise up manfully and 
meet the issues that have been forced upon us by those 
assassins of the Rei:\ublic who have so long played the 
part which history tells us was played by l!^ero while 
gazing on the burning ruins of the Eternal City. Let us 
accept the "logic of accomplished facts," and manfully 
and courageously resolve that although the Union has 
been destroyed, our liberties shall still be preserved, and 
democratic freedom saved from the wreck of our once 
proud, free, and happy Republic. Let us perform the 
task that remains to us, and leave to time the work of re- 
uniting in the bonds of a powerful alliance the now severed 
sections of a once grand confederacy. 



METROPOLITAN EECOED. 113 



WHICH IS THE MOST HUMILIATING -PEACE OR 
WAR'T 

{Fr(ym the Metropolitan Kecord, June 13, 1863.) 

After more than two years of a fratricidal war there 
are some in the North who are still not only in favor of 
its vigorous prosecution, but who denounce as traitors and 
se(;essionists all those who are bold enough to advocat-e 
peace as the only means left of preserving the Northern 
States from the horrors of a fixed military despotism. 
These men insist that the war shall still go on, that tens, 
and, if need be, hundreds of thousands shall be added to 
the holocaust already oflered up at the shrine of Abolition- 
ism ; that the press must be silenced ; that liberty of 
speech must be suppressed; that all our constitutional 
guarantees must be held in abeyance until the South is 
thoroughly subdued. They are the last-dollar-in-the-treas- 
ury men, the firm supporters of the Administration, the 
advocates of a strong government, who allow no one to 
ba right but themselves, and who insist that peace upon 
any other terms than the complete submission of the 
iSouth would be humiliating and degrading to the North. 
They presume to have the honor of the country in their 
keeping, and from their judgment there must be no appeal. 

Now, does any one imagine that these men are willing 
of themselves to make any sacrifices in support of their 
own })olicy ? Who are they that talk to us in this dicta- 
torial, domineering style ? They are the officials of the 
Government, the shoddy contractors, the men who are 
making their profits out of all this lavish expenditure of 
blood and money. They are m favor of the war policy, 
because it adds to their ill-gotten gains. It is they who 
threaten the advocates of peace with all the terrors of the 
Washington tyranny. It is they, and such as they, who 
talk of the disgrace and humiliation of entering into ne- 
gotiations with "rebels in arms." But what greater hu- 
miliation and disgrace could befall a country than to be 
•governed by such a set of imbeciles, such traitors to the 
Constitution, as the men in Washington ? What could be 



114 . ARTICLES FROM THE 

more humiliating to a free people than the deprivation of 
their rights, than the occurrence of such acts as have been 
committed in the West by the military satraps, Burnside 
and Hascall ? What could be more degrading than the 
position in which we have been placed before the world 
by the wretched minions and tools of a would-be irre- 
sponsible despotism ? Are we so desirous of still greater 
humiliations than those which have befallen us ? If we 
are, then let the war go on, let the conscription be carried 
into operation without opposition. Let our brave and un- 
justly treated volunteers be slaughtered by tens of thou- 
sands, and their families starve at home for want of the 
pay to which they are fliirly entitled, but which is with- 
held that contractors may not be kept waiting; let the 
citizens' last weapon against tyranny — the vote by ballot — 
be overthrown by the bayonet. Let all this be done if 
we are in favor of a prolongation of hostilities, but let us 
not be told that any peace could be more humiUating than 
a waa* carried on at such a fearful sacrifice to human liberty 
and the rights of American citizenship. 

Humiliating ! Look at the national capital ; look at the 
intrigues that are going on there against the sovereignty 
of the States, and against the perpetuity of free institu- 
tions ! Read of the doings of the wretched cabal, and do 
not wonder that such men as Hooker and Burnside, and 
Hunter and Halleck are allowed to play their pranks be- 
fore high Heaven. Look and estimate if you can the 
character of the man who can tell his ribald jests while 
the country is bleeding at every -pore. Look there and 
wonder not that the humiliation of the country should be 
the subject of a boast with his Secretary of State, who, 
claiming to be a freeman among freemen, coolly informed 
a foreign minister that by merely touching the bell at his 
right hand he could order the arrest of any citizen of the 
North. Could lie do that with a citizen of the South f . 
No! for the dominions of the military despotis'tn at 
Washington do not extend within the lines of the Con- 
federate forces. 

This war must cease if we do not desire a still greater 
humiliation ; this war must cease if we would preserve our 
free institutions ; this war must cease if we would not be 



METEOPOLITAN RECORD. 115 

ground down to the earth by the burdens of an excessive 
taxation ; and, finally, this war must cease if Ave would 
avoid civil strife and anarchy in our Northern States. 

AND IT WILL CEAJSE FROM SHEER NECES- 
SITY. 

The people have at last be-come aroused to a true sense 
of their danger. They now fully understand the character 
of the men who have driven the ship of state among the 
breakers. Their patience is exhausted, their forbearance 
gone, their confidence undermined, and their suspicions at 
last fuUy and actively aroused. Ui^on whom, then, is the 
Government to rely for the means wherewith to continue 
this war ? Is it on the men who exclaim against peace as 
humiliating ? Is it on the Abolitionists, under the lead of 
such men as Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, and 
Beecher and Cheever ? Is it, in a word, on the contract- 
ors and tax collectors, and Government oflicials generally, 
who are so sensitive with regard to the honor of the coun- 
try ? No, no ; these are not the men who are ready to 
put themselves in jeopardy, so long as they can purchase 
exemption from the draft by the payment of three hun- 
dred dollars worth of greenbacks. We appeal to you, 
mechanics and laborers, whose families are dependent upon 
your honest toil for support, if you are wilhng to sacrifice 
yourselves for the further enslavement of the white man, 
and the emancipation of a race whom President Lincoln 
has .told you could not exist in the same community with- 
out injury to yourselves. Those anti-peace men talk to 
you of humiliation, while tens, ay hundreds, of thousands 
have been reduced by the loss of their protectors, to the 
bitter humiliation of destitution and poverty. What 
sacrifices have they made that they should oppose the re- 
establishment of peace ? Ah ! rather ask how much would 
they lose hy the discontinuance of this loar f 

Yes, this war must cease for want of the means, to carry 
it on. The Conscription is already a failure, and any at- 
tempt to enforce it in the North may precipitate a revolu- 
tion, in which the Administration will inevitably go down. 
There are at the present time hardly four hundred thou- 
sand efi:*ective men in the field ; the South is stiil invincible, 
still defiant ; Hooker still leads the Army of the Potomac ; 



116 ARTICLES FEOM THE 

Burnside commands in the West, and Halleck and Stanton 
still rule the War Department; while over all presides the 
jocular and mirth-provoking Executive, with a new joke 
for every defeat, and a flow of animal spirits that no re- 
verses or calamity can subdue. Who, then, talks of a fur- 
ther prolongation of the war ? Are men to be stamped 
out of the earth? Will the citizens of the North submit 
to be driven like sheep to the shambles ? Although the 
people have thus far submitted to great humiliation, we 
do not beheve that they are j^repared to yield their birth- 
rights without a desperate struggle. 

If the Conscription is attempted to be enforced, the 
flames of a civil war will be enkindled within the Northern 
States. The Administration may think that it will be easy 
to suppress a popular uprising by the aid of the army ; 
but we tell them if they rely upon the army for the en- 
slavement of their fellow-citizens, they will find that they 
are leaning upon a broken reed. The army are of the 
people and with the people, and the brave fellows who 
compose it can not be converted into the tools of the des- 
pots at Washington. The ties of Idudred, the home affec- 
tions that twine around their hearts, the associations of 
their youth and of their manhood, all these bind them to 
the respective States of which they are citizens, and any 
attempt of the Administration to divorce them from these 
sacred and powerful influences will fail — utterly, wholly, 
ignominiously fail. The Washington authorities have in- 
deed been reduced to desperate straits, and we believe 
that a general feeling of trepidation and alarm prevails in 
the White House and its surroundings. They may, how- 
ever, attempt to intimidate the people by a still further 
display of military force hke that which took place at In- 
dianapoHs, at Newark, and at other places; but by so 
doing they will onlf^ expose their weakness the more, for 
in a contest between the States and the General Govern- 
ment we have the assurance of Madison and Hamilton 
that the States will inevitably be victorious. 

Let the peace men, then, have no fears for the future. 
This war is near its termination. It is a fix:ed fact that 
the force in the field is entirely inadequate to its further 
prosecution. 



I^IETBOPOLITAN RECORD. 117 

Rosecrans is in want of reinforcements ; Banks is in 
want of reinforcements ; Hooker is in want of reinforce- 
ments ; Grant is in want of reinforcements. The two 
years' and nine months' men are returning to their homes. 
The Administration dare not enforce the Conscription Act ; 
huge peace meetings are being held all over the North ; 
Massachus^itts is twenty thousand behind her quota ; the 
enormous bounties fail in inducing men to recruit ; the 
people are becoming exceedingly uneasy under the de- 
velopment of the tax law ; the im'becility and incompe- 
tency of the Executive and his Cabinet Council have 
become fixed facts in the popular mind; the action of 
some of the State courts, deciding that Treasury notes are 
not legal tenders, have shaken the confidence of the people 
in the value of greenbacks ; and, finally, we believe that 
this same people are far ahead of their leaders in their de- 
sire and demand for peace. 

But it is asked, how is peace to be brought about ? In 
the first place we must have an armistice, then a conven- 
tion between the Commissioners appointed to negotiate 
the terms of peace between the two Repubhcs. \Ve en- 
deavored in last week's paper to suggest the terms upon 
which a permanent peace might be estabUshed ; and we 
frankly beheve that these terms form the most practical 
basis of settlement. To some such arrangement as this 
we must eventually come, even should the war be pro- 
tracted for two years more. 

If we are ever to have a Union again, it will, as we 
have already stated, and as we firmly believe, take the 
form of an aUiance between the two Republics against the 
intrigues, and, it may be, the attempted domination of 
foreign powers in the affairs of this Continent, and such 
an alliance may eventually lead to a reunion on a different, 
but, let -us trust, a stronger and more enduring basis. 



118 ARTICLES FROM THE 



THE CONSCRIPTION. 

{From the Metropolitajj Record, June 13, 1863.) 

Is any man so foolish as to imagine that the miconstitu- 
tional act for the conscription of our fellow-citizens can 
really be carried into operation ? Do they suppose that 
the people will submit to such 'an exaction on the very 
life-blood of the country ? K there are such men they 
must be blind to the events that are daily transpiring. 
No, there will be no conscription, and any effort to carry 
such a measure into execution will prove a total failure. 
The Administration has lost its power, and its motion, 
like the diminished speed of a railroad train after it has 
been detached from the locomotive, is but the impetns 
given it by the power which it once possessed, but which 
is gone forever.. 

The people are now thoroughly wide awake ; they see 
that they have been deceived ; they know that the Ad- 
ministration has falsified its pledges — has attempted to 
steal away their Hberties, and that it is fast becoming 
utterly powerless to wreak its wicked will by overthrowing 
the sovereignty of the States. 

But it is barely possible that an attempt to carry out the 
Conscription Act may yet be made, and it is well to con- 
sider such a thing among the probabilities of the future. 

In this State we believe it will be opposed by the people, 
and its constitutionahty tested before our courts. Now, 
it so happens that the opinion, the indignant protest of one 
of the noblest Americans that ever lived, has been placed 
on record against the tyranny of such an imposition. We 
feel proud in announcing the fact that this man was a 
Catholic — yes, a Catholic in the truest sense of the term. 
His name is William Gaston, and it should be written in 
letters of hving light wherever freedom has its worshipers. 
He was one of the ablest of American jurists, and his 
name is a synonym for judicial integrity, manly courage, 
heroic devotion to the truth and the right wherever that 
name is known. His father was murdered during the 
Revolution by a band of Tories, who were then engaged 



METEOPOLITAN RECORD. 119 

in an attempt somewhat similar to that of the Abolition 
traitors at Washington to steal away the liberties of the 
people. Well might Judge Gaston say, when referring to 
this event — ^ v 

" I was baptized an American in the blood of a mur- 
dered father." 

Judge Gaston was born in Newbern, North Carolina, 
and was elevated to the bench of the Supreme Court of 
that State, maintaining the highest reputation ever enjoyed 
by a member of the American bench. He died on the 23d 
of January, 1843, and the manner of his death is so re- 
markable that we can not forego the opportunity of refer- 
ring to it here. Relating some anecdotes of his experience 
in Washington, he spoke of a freethinker whom he once 
met there. " From that day," said he, " I always looked 
on that man with distrust. I do not say that a freethinker 
may not be an honorable man, or that he may not, from 
high motives, scorn to do a mean act ; but I dare not trust 
him. A belief in an all-ruUng Divinity, who shapes our 
ends, whose eye is upon us, and who will reward us accord- 
ing to our deeds, is necessary. We must believe and feel 
that there is a God, all- wise and almighty." 

These were the last words he ever uttered, for, rising to 
give greater emphasis to the expression, he fell back and 
expired. 

This great man has, as we have stated, left his opinion 
in regard to conscription on record. The speech which he 
delivered in the House of Representatives in February, 
1814, when referring to the great efforts made by the Ad- 
ministration of that day to till up the army by conscri|> 
tion, one would imagine was a prophetic description of 
the present time : 

"THE MOST ENOKMOUS PRICE IS BID FOR SOLDIERS THAT 
WAS EVER OFFERED IN ANY AGE OR COUNTRY. SHOULD 
THIS FAIL, WHAT IS THE NEXT SCHEME? THERE IS NO 
RESERVE OR CONCEALMENT. IT HAS BEEN AVOWED THAT 
THE NEXT SCHEME IS A CONSCRIPTION. IT .IS KNOWN 
THAT THIS SCHEME WAS RECOMMENDED EVEN AT THIS 
SESSION BY THE WAR DEPART.MENT, AND THAT IT WAS 
POSTPONED ONLY TO TRY FIRST THE EFFECT OF ENORMOUS 
BOUNTY. THE FREEMEN OF THIS COUNTRY ARE TO BE 
DRAFTED FROM THE RANKS OF THE MILITIA, AND FORCED 
ABROAD AS MILITARY MACHINES, TO AVAGE A WAR OF 



120 ARTICLES FROM THE 

CONQUEST! SIR, I HAVE BEEN ACCUSTOMED TO CONSIDER 
THE LITTLE SHARE WHICH I HAVE IN THE CONSTITUTION 
OF THESE UNITED STATES AS THE MOST VALUABLE PATRI- 
MONY I HAVE TO LEAVE TO THOSE BEINGS IN WHOM I 
HOPE MY NAI^IE AND REME^IBRANCE TO BE PERPETUATED, 
BUT I DO SOLEMNLY DECLARE, THAT IF SUCH A DOCTRINE 
BE ENGRAFTED INTO THIS CONSTITUTION, I SHALL REGARD 
IT AS WITHOUT VALUE, AND CARE NOT FOR ITS PRESER- 
VATION." 

The language of this great and good judge is peculiarly- 
applicable now, and contains a lesson which can not be ig- 
nored without entailing the most fearful consequences. 

This is a war of invasion as that against which Judge 
Gaston protested, for the conscription of that day was 
with the view of invading Canada. It is even worse ; for 
it is a war against the Constitution and against the writ- 
ings of the fathers of the Revolution, in which there is no 
authority for the coercion of a sovereign State. If com- 
promise had not been discarded, and the law of brute force 
had not been appealed to in the attempt to bring back the 
South, the restoration of the old Union would not be 
among the impossibilities of the future. 



/ METKOPOLIl'AN lEtECOED. 121 

THE ADMINISTRATION TELEGRAPH ; OR, HOW IT 
IS DONE. 

A PLAY IN THREE ACTS. 

'WBITTBjr BXPREBSLT FOB THK " MBTEOPOLITAN REOOBD," AND NOT TO BB PKRFOaMB* 
IN ANT THEATEBt, TO AYOID THE ABEEST OF THH A0T0B8.) 

{Fr(m the Metropolitan Kecord, Jum 20, 1863.) 

DBAMATIS PERSONJS. 

Abe Lition Linkem. 

W. H. HlRELAW. . 

Solomon" Greenback. 

Secretary Bluster. 

Secretary Springs. 

Confidential Clerk op Secretary Hirelaw. 

General Mallet. 

The Intelligent Contraband. 

The Reliable Southern Gentleman. 

Porter. 



ACT I. 

Scene 1. 

Sebr€t offite in the War Department — Sec. Hirelaw presiding over a meeting 
of the War ll'legraph Bureau. 

Sec. Hirelaw — "Well, gentlemen, did I not tell you that 
my plan would be the most successful? An experience 
of forty years in public life has satisfied me that the people 
are easily gulled. Did you not see how I cajoled them 
when at the Astor House in the great metropohs I said, 
and pledged my word thereto, that three short months 
would see the termination of this war. 'Tis true the 
pledge was not redeemed ; but, sirs, the popular heart 's a 
generous one, and its trust once given is not soon with- 
drawn. K proof of this were needed, see how my polit- 
ical promissory note has been renewed, until noAV the time 
is extended to nine times three months ! Am I not right, 
then, in my conclusions ? Yes, sirs. What follows as the 
inevitable inference ? Lie on, and they will stiU believe, 
for a lie well told must make its way. But what news 

6 



12S ARTICLES FEOM THE 

to-day from Yickshurg? Has that Sebastapol not fallc-a 
yet, or is Pemberton determined to hold out ? What !s 
Grant doing, and what is he about ? The agent of tlio 
Memphis telegraph should have captured it before this. 
Send him word at once to say the fate of Yicksburg is 
sealed, that our starry flag now floats upon its ramparts. 

All — Good. 

Sec. H. — If 'tis not taken, it ought, and that's the same. 
If not yet in Grant's possession, it should be ; so we'll take 
it for grant-ed. 

Abe Linkem — Stay ! hold, Mr. Secretary ; not so fast, I 
pray you. Your joke on Grant" reminds me of a capital 
anecdote of an old chum of mine who floated rafts down 
the crooked Mississippi — darn the thing ! I wish it was 
straightened out — anyhow^ Ws full of snags. Well, this 
friend of mine said he'd bet drinks that his family was as 
old as creation — (his name was Grant, too) — so I bet him ; 
but, by thunder ! he beat me, for he showed me in the 
Bible where it said, " there were Grants in those days.'* 
And there, sure enough, it was, for the printer who set it 
up spelt it grants instead of giants, so, by thunder! he 
got me. • [All indulge in laughter. 

Gen. Maliet — Ha ! ha ! really that's very good, Mr. 
President. Giants and Grants ! Capital ! Ha ! ha ! 

Abe li. .[aside to Ge7i. Mallet] — Capital joke! "My 
wife says so, too." By the way. General, who did you 
say you wanted appointed to that brigadier-generalship ? 

[The General whispers. 
He shall have it, and my word's better than a three-months' 
note of Secretary Hirelaw. 

Sec. H. — I asked what news from Yicksburg. Why 
this hesitation ? 

Intelligent Contraband — It's not yet taken, and 
"dat's what's de matter." Massa, General Pemberton 
says he won't allow it noways nohow. He's got plenty 
grub, and says he'll fight Gen. Grant, " or any other man," 
as long as he has a horse or a dog left. 

Gen. M. — Who said that this was an intelligent contra- 
band ? He is not the man we want. Away with him. So. 
Is he gone ? 

YoiCES — He's gone. 



METROPOLITAN RECOED. 123 

[ Chorus in the distance^ 

" He is gone where the good darldes go." 

So lay down the shovel and the hoe, 

Dere are no more work for 

De poor contraband, 

For a sojering he must go. 

Gen. M. — Where is the reliable Southern gentleman ? 

R. S. Gentleman [aside to Jfallet] — What about that 
office you promised ? You know my story is dependent 
on that. 

Gen. M. [aside] — You shall have it ; but is the story a 
good one ? 

R. S. G. [aside — You shall see.] Gentlemen, I have 
just arrived from Richmond, and the cabinet of that arch 
traitor Davis is now stricken with fear at the wretched 
prospect before them. There is not three weeks' provi- 
sions in the whole South, the soldiers are on the verge of 
mutiny, the blockade is impassable, and in less than three 
weeks the Southern Confederacy must collapse. 

Sec. H. — By Jove ! Mallet, that won't do ; he goes ahead 
of me. He says three weeks, while I have promised three 
months. 

Gen. M. — Never mind, Bill, you're both equally re-lie- 
able. 

R. S. G. [aside to Mallet'] — What think you of my 
gtory ? 

Gen. M. — ^Truly, you have a most inventive genius, and 
if you have not overwhelmed them at the South, you have 
enabled us to do the North. You shall have the office 
promised. [Exit M. S. Gentleman et omnes. 

Scene 2. 

A Private Chamber in the Navy Department — Sec. Springs, surnamed " Tht 
Old Man of the Sea," discovered sitting at a table surrounded by charts, 
plans of Monitors, etc. 

Sec. Springs [soliloquizing] — Nine more vessels gone 
through that confounded Alabama. This is more than 
human patience can endure. The fates are all against me ; 
and e'en the daily press can find no better subject for its 
comments. Zhave made no three months' promises. / 
have issued no political promissory notes. Why, then, 



124 . ARTICLES FEOM THE 

should I be so baited ? There's a vicious fellow must 
make a pun upon my name by asking if " all is well that 
ends Welles ?" Springs he should have said, but it's near 
enough for a joke. 'Twas but last night I had a dream, 
and in that dream methought a whole army of these edit- 
ors rughed upon me with pens upraised as if to strike me 
to the earth. Their banner bore these words in golden 
characters ; 

"The Pen is Mightier than the Swoed." 

" 'Tis false," I cried, " the pen's not mightier than the 
sword." The little bell of Sec. Hirelaw* has twice the 
power, and has it not been proved ere this that the dollar 
is all-mighty ? I know a change is working in the public 
mind, and that in the President's own State the suppres- 
sion policy has met with a repulse that may be but the be- 
ginning of disaster. Ha ! who knocks ? I trust no fur- 
ther news about the Alabama. Enter. 

[2^Ae door opetis, and Sec. Hirelaw enters. 

Sec. H. — Glad to see you, old fellow. What's the news 
from the dominions of the saline god, that tough old salt, 
called Neptune ? 

Sec. S. — A truce to joking, Bill. You know I am thin- 
skinned, and can not even hear the name of Semmes with- 
out a shudder. 

Sec. H.— Well, well, no joke, I assure you. Why not 
do as I do ? Laugh at their assaults, and whene'er you 
get a chance, revenge yourself by sending your assailant 
to Fort McHenry or Lafayette. Spjings, my boy, you're 
not up to trap. If you only knew this people as well as I 
do, no fears of the future would perplex your thoughts by 
day or dreams by night. Do you not see how easily they 
are cowed, and how passively they submit themselves to 
the yoke ? 

Sec. S. — That may or may not be so ; but still I dread 
the future. The people, I grant you, have been patient, 

" Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons — My lord, I can touch a bell on my 
right hand and order the arrest of a citizen in Ohio. I can touch the 
hell again and order the imprisonment of a citizen of New York ; and 
no power on earth but that of the President can release them. Can 
the Queen of England in her dominions do as much ? 



METEOPOLITAN RECORD. 125 

not passive, and the time may come — but let's not think 
of that. The subject's an unpleasant one. What news 
from the Mississippi ? is Yicksburg taken ? 

Sec. H.— Yes. 

Sec. S.— How ? by assaiilt ? 

Sec. H. — No, by telegraph, and — a reliable Southern gen- 
tleman, who is to be rewarded for the feat by the sale to 
your department of one of his old mud-scows, and an office 
m mine. 

Sec. S. — ISTow, I prithee, Bill, no more such tricks. 
Have I not enough of mu-d-scows ? Must I again be tor- 
tured by the press ? My mind is on the rack already. 

Sec. H. — Pshaw ! In diplomacy you are but a child. 

Sec. S. — Well, well, have it so. I must confess I can 
not "look so calmly on these things as my able colleague 
of the State Department. There is that affair at Charles- 
ton — 

Sec. H. — I should thiuk you had enough of Charleston 
already. Come, you must dine with me to-day, and as we 
have no time to lose, put by the cares of office for the 
present, and we'll have a right good joUy hour. 

Sec. S. — Agreed. I am at your service. [Miceu9it. 



ACT II. 

Scene 1. 

An Attic in the Negro quarter of the Capital — Intelligent Contraband em- 
ployed in demolishing a plate of fried eeh. 

Int. Contraband — By golly! dis chile was not wide 
awake dat time ; but he has larned a lesson dis time, any- 
how. Dey don't want de trufe. So I guess I'll have to 
do a little Ijin. I'll just take Vicksburg right straight off, 
and put the banner, or the banger, on the bafflement. 
Guess dat'n fetch him. Ya ! ya ! Sure I be an intelligent 
contraband, and if I aint smart enuff for um dis time dis 
nigger knows nuffin, dat's all. I jis go right straigiit off 
and tell him Vicksburg is took. 



126 ARTICLES mOM THE 



Scene 2. 



Residence of Sec. Hibelaw — The Sec. and his confidentud Clerk engaged in 

Ernest conversation. 

Sec. Hieelaw — Your plan's a good one. I admire it. 
It will not do t' oppose these peace men too strong at first. 
We must feel the public pulse and see how it beats. That 
mistake of Burnside's has thrown us back somewhat. It 
came too soon after Vallandigham's banishment. We 
must revoke tTie order. Your advice is a good one. And 
then — I think I understand you — then we must observe a 
little moderation, and seem to yield while we are but 
strengthening the chain. The conscription ! Ha ! Yes, 
the conscription must succeed, and to secure that success, 
concessions, apparent concessions, to the popular demands 
are wise and statesmanlike. But let the conscription* suc- 
ceed, and we are masters of the situation. Do I not un- 
derstand you ? 

Coi«". Clerk — Fully ; that is my idea, for if the people 
will submit to that, then the triumph of our scheme is cer- 
tam. You, by securing the prolongation of the war, are 
enabled to wield the military power of the country. Six 
hundred thousand conscrij^ts are sufficient far the conquest 
of the North, and the Emperor of France has set a lesson 
that may well be copied — a cou}^ Witat would soon dispose 
of all who talk such treason as that defunct and musty 
document, the Constitution, contains. 

Sec. H. — These are words of wisdom such as Kichelieu 
himself could not surpass ; but we must end this consulta- 
tion. There are other matters of import to look after, 
and they can not be put ^side. 

Con. C. — Ah ! there is one thing I had well-nigh forgot. 

Sec. H. — Delay not, then, for you see I am hurried, 
and to-morrow must be given to telegraph inventions and 
inventors. 

Con. C. — To be brief, there is a paper published in 
New York which is noted for its devoted advocacy of 
Free Speech, Free Press, and treason such as that must 
not be allowed. 

Sec. H. — Name the paper, and it shall be attended to. 

Con. C. — The Meteopolitan Recori>. Nay, start not 
at the name. 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 127 

Sec. H. — ^Ha ! sayst thou so — the Record ? Why, me- 
thought it was the loyalest among the loyal. It must be 
stopped. Wher^s my hell f 

Con. C. — I know not. It has been astray betimes since 
that man Seymour was elected Governor of the Empire 
Stf.te. 

Sec. H. — Well, as we can do nothing in New York 
without that bell, and as Seymour may interfere, we must 
bide our time. So farewell, my trusty friend, till we two 
meet again. \Ex^wit, 



ACT III. 

Scene 1. 
The secret office in the War Department, as represented in Act L, Scene 1. 

Abe Lition Linkem — Are we all together ? 

Sec. Hirelaw — I believe the meeting is full, and so now 
to business. What's on the table ? 

Abe L. — Paper, pens, and ink, and — my two legs. Ha ! 
ha ! that's a good one. Aint it, Mallet ? 

Gen. Mallet — Capital. Ha ! ha ! 

Abe L. [^aside to 3Iallet] — I'll appoint your friend brig- 
adier-general sure. I have a capital joke to tell you when 
we're alone, and Hirelaw aint around. 

Solomon Greenback — This, I believe, is a meeting of 
telegraph inventors, and I would therefore suggest that as 
government stock is running down in the market, it might 
be as well to get out a good startHng dispatch from Vicks- 
burg. 

Gen. M. — ^The very thing which brought us together. 
Matters, it must be confessed, look very hazy in that quar- 
ter at the present time. What say you. Springs ? ' 

Sec. Springs — There I agree with you. 'Tis true my 
gun-boats and mortars have been hammering at them for 
weeks with poor success, but a telegraphic dispatch is the 
thing to use them up and put a quietus on the discon- 
tented North. 

All — ^Theu let us have the dispatch. 



128 



ARTICLES FROM THE 



Porter [entering and addressing Secretary Mirelaw] — 
The Intelligent Contraband is without, and asks to be ad- 
mitted. 

Sec, H. — Admit him. 
lTjitellige?it Contraband makes his appearance^ and says : 

Massa Hirelaw, I've been tinkin' 'bout dat matter since, 
and, by golly ! I find dat 'twas all a mistake of dis nigger. 
Massa Pemberton's done gone. Whew ! he can't stand 
no time. He got only five horses for his men, and dey so 
tin for want ob fodder, dat dere notin' but skin and bone. 
Dey'U be starved right out in two or free days. 

Sec. H. — How long since you were there ? 

Int. Con. — Ise just come from dar right straight. 

Sec. H. — That's capital ; that'll do. [To his confiden- 
tial clerk'] — See that he's well paid for that information. 

[Exit Int. Contraband. 

Sec. Bluster — Where is the reliable Southern gentle- 
man? 

Porter — He is here, sir; but a member of the New 
York press insists upon seeing you first. 

Sec. B. — Insists ! did you say ? 

P. — Yes, sir. 

Sec. B. — Ha ! There's too much freedom in the word 
" insists." It smacks of treason, and must be punished. 
[ Writes an order.'] There ! Have him sent forthwith to 
Lafayette, and now for the rehable gentleman. 

[Porter ushei's in the M. S. G. 

R. S. Gentleman — Since my last report I have been 
placed in possession of further information of a most im- 
portant character. The Southern Confederacy is rapidly 
breaking up. Jefi" Davis and his cabinet have had a se- 
rious quarrel. The women of Richmond have armed 
themselves to the teeth, and even the children are in 
arms. Boots are selling for a hundred dollars a pair ; a 
single apple can not be had for less than five dollars. 
Colee is made of roast sawdust, and very inferior whisky 
sells at two hundred dollars a gallon. The President's 
proclamation has set all the negroes rampant, and they are 
rising and killing their former owners and families. A 
few days ago Mrs. Davis was heard to say to Jeff, " It's 
aU up with us ;" and General Lee, I have heard on reli- 



METROPOLITAN RECORD. 129 

able authority, is secretly working to make his escape to 
France. 

Gen. M. — Your information, sir, is most valuable, and 
shall be given to the loyal people of the North without 
delay. \Aside] — As for that office, call on me to-morrow 
morning, and you shall be duly installed. 

Sec. H. — A most intelligent and reliable gentleman that. 

Abe L. — Now, gentlemen, you must hurry up, as the 
old woman Avill play the deuce if I'm not on hand to meet 
some friends at dinner. So now to work at that dispatch, 
and let it be a crusher. Use up the South, or, by thun- 
der ! it may use ics I'p. 

Sec. B. — Gentleman, here is the dispatch ready for the 
wires. 

Abe L. — Ah ! Bluster, at the wire-pulling again, old 
fellow ! What do you think of that one. Mallet ? Good, 
wasn't it ? 

Gen. M. — Capital ! excellent ! Ha I ha ! 

Abe L. — That brigadier-generalship is a sure thing. 
You may bet on it. Now, Bluster, go ahead with your 
dispatch, and let it be dispatched as quick as possible. 
There's another, Mallet, just got off; another one, old fel- 
low ; have you got any more friends you want appointed ? 

Gen. M. — A few more. 

Abe L. — Send in their names ; it is as good as done. 
But read the dispatch. 

Sec. B. — [o^eads.) 

DISPATCH. 

The news from the South is of a most encouraging 
character, and there are strong indications of a speedy 
breaking up of the rebellion. A reliable gentleman, just 
from the heart of Secessia, and who escaped from the al- 
most instant death with which he was threatened, says 
that very poor whisky is over two hundred dollars a gal- 
lon ; that, in fact, the South is rapidly losing its spirits^ 
and even the women are all in favor of Union — to a 7nan. 
There is a large party in South Carohna who are in favor 
of bringing back that State, and it was reported that a con- 
spiracy was concocted to give up all the forts in the har- 
bor to Admiral Dupont. The Southern soldiers were gen- 
erally dissatisfied, and threatened a system of universal 

6* 



130 AETICLES FEOM THE METROPOLITAN KECORD. 

<lesertion. In fact, the rebellion is reduced to a shell, and 
might be crushed at any time by a vigorous prosecution 
of the war. It is said that Louis Napoleon advised Jefl* 
Davis to give up, and it is believed that he will have to do 
so by the end of the next three months, if not sooner. 

Sec. H. — That's just the thing. I've no doubt that 
three months will do for them. Is that all ? 

Sec. B.— That's all. 

Abe L.— Whew ! I'm glad of it. WeU, BiU, have it 
sent over the wires, and if our people swallow that dose, 
anything will stay upon their stomachs. 

So now we must away, 
And leave the next dispatch for anotlier day. 

} Curtain falls on a grand tableau, representing Solomon 
Greenback enthusiastically waving a Treasury note, 
and Mr. Linkem reposing in graceful dignity on both 
chair and table, with his feet and head on a common 
level, while Gen. Mallet and the Reliable Southern 
Gentleman are engaged in a silent conversation.^ 






t 



THi-: 



WASHINGTON 



gesptismiissateli 



IN ARTICLES FROM THE 




METROPOLITAN RECORD. 



i I 



FIFTH KDITION 






I^to |0rlt: 



c4C 



^=X OFFIOK OF THE xMETROPOLlTAN RECORD, f\^ 
I Mi ^^o. 419 Broadwav. %^ 




18 64 



<ys:- 





k 



A 



A CATHOLIC FAMILY PAPER. 



John Mullaly, Editor and Proprietor. 



orrxczs, 419 Broadway. 

Ti IS the object of this Journal to supply the Catholic portion of the community with 
all the important and interesting news of the Catholic world, and particularly with in- 
formation in regard to events and occurrences connected with the Church in the United 
States. Its readers are also duly informed of the progress of events in the secular, as 
well as in the religious, world. 

Tlie " Mktropoutan Record" is published once a week, and contains 

Sixty-foar Colamns of Varied and interesting^ Readings natter. 

It is an unswerving advocate of the principles of the American Revolution, and oppos- 
ed to the encroachments of the Washington Despotism upon popular rights. Believing 
that the freedom of the citizen is of infinitely more value than a union cemented by 
military force, it is, as it always has been, against the War, and stands by the repeated 
declarations of the great Statesmen of the Revolution, that this is a Union of free will 
and not of force — a voluntary compact, not a compulsory bond. 

The " Record " has never hesitated to express its opinions frankly and fearlessly with 
regard to the unconstitutional policy of the Administration, and has resolutely defended 
the great chart* r of Democratic freedom against the infamous designs of the party in 
power; it is, in a word, ' oppo.sed to Con.scription, Confiscation, and Abolitionism, and 
the unflinching advocate of Freedom of Speech, the Vote by Ballot, Habeas Corpus, 
Trial by Jury, Freedom of the Press, and State Rights, Conservative in its policy, it is at 
war with fanaticism in every form, as tending to social di>organization,and the destruc- 
tion of Civil and Rehgious Liberty. 

The Business Department is carried on with that strict attention to all its details, 
without which no paper can expect to succeed, no matter how liberally supported, or 
how ably conducted ; and all the business transactions of the establishment are con- 
ducted on a cash basis. 

This Journal is published weekly at No. 419 Broadway, and delivered to City and Mail 
Subscribers on the following terms : 

Price per Year, served by Carrier S3 00 

Price per Year, served by Mail 2 50 

Price per Year, for Six Copies or more 2 00 

To Subscribers in Canada and Ireland, the " Re ord " is sent for $3.50 per year, as tbeie 
i.s an advance of One Dollar on the Postage. 



THE ADVERTISING RATES ARE AS FOLLOWS : 

To Transient Advertisers l^J cents per line, i 

To Yearly Advertisers 5 cents per line. 

«3' KO PAPER WILL BE SENT IH-L THE RECEIPT OF THE SUBSCRIPTION. -®ft 
Clubs of Six cr more uill It supplied with the " Record " at $2 a year to each Subscribtr. | 



All Orders and Communications should be addressed to 
the Editor, No. 419 Broadway, New York. 



LEJa'13 



